We Are Alive
by itsashleybaby
Summary: After the cease fire Connor and Hank must try to find their place back in society. While facing old enemy's and new struggles will they discover their strengths inside each other? *Hank and Connor fanfic. Slash.*
1. Chapter 1

It was mostly silent except for the crunch of snow underneath our shoes. Neither one of us had said a word since we left the Chicken Feed. I glanced at Conner. He was quiet, which was extremely unusual for him. Usually he would fill any empty silence with a shit ton of useless questions. Well, I thought they were useless anyway. I'm sure he was logging my answers away in his fancy computer brain somewhere, only to be dug up later when he needed to use them against me.

"I'm no fucking genius, but one look at your blinking yellow light there tells me there's something going on in that plastic head of yours."

Connor finally looked at me, his face mostly neutral, save for his eyebrows being slightly lifted in curiosity as they normally were. He was the walking definition of ironic. The best, most up to date android of our time, mounds of information instantaneously sent directly to his computer brain in a blink of an eye, yet, he was so naive. Everything that wasn't pre uploaded into his programming was a mystery to him. He took everything so literally and didn't get sarcasm very well, but he was learning. He had come a long way since I first met him that night in jimmy's bar. Hell, so have I. Sure, the dark thoughts were still there. I still thought about my son every second of every day, wishing I could have done something different. Something to save him. But I felt like I finally had something to live for. I had someone who needed me and who I needed in return. I had Connor.

If you would have told me a month ago i'd be worried sick over some fucking android's well being I would have told you that you were bat shit fucking crazy then socked you one in the face for good measure. But here I am, walking side by side with the very boy that changed my mind, wondering what he's got tumbling around in his head.

"What's wrong Connor?"

He stared at me for a moment as if deciding what he wanted to say.

"I am just... concerned about my future."

I knit my eyebrows together.

"What about it?"

Connor dropped his eyes to the ground, his face turning troubled.

"This is the first time I do not have someone telling me what I need to do. I'm not sure where I'm supposed to go from here…"

"Well, I'll tell you what's gonna happen." I stated, shoving my hands in my coat pockets. "We are gonna go home, I am gonna have a few beers, and you will calm the fuck down."

He smirked, and it was damn beautiful.

"Home, Lieutenant?"

"Yes, home! You got a problem with that?"

"No, It's a very kind offer. But I have to inform you that I'm no longer linked to CyberLife's account. I wouldn't be able to pay-"

"-Shut the fuck up Connor, alright?" He turned his gaze towards me. "You're not going to pay me for anything."

"I would feel better if-"

"-Connor, you don't even eat. What, do you have to plug into the wall to recharge your batteries or something?"

"No, I have a projected battery life of approximately one hundred and seventy-three years."

I stared at him for a long moment. Damn him for taking everything I say so literally.

"Uh huh. Well my point is you're not adding to my expenses anyway. You're staying with me so shut the fuck up about it."

After a long pause I watched as one side of his perfectly crafted mouth turned upward.

"Okay, lieutenant. Besides, I'm sure I can find some other way to repay you for your hospitality."

Connor winked.

What the fuck was that? Did He just hit on me? Coming from anyone else there would be no doubt. But no, He is way too innocent for that. He must have meant something else by it. Still, it didn't stop my stomach from knotting when he said it. Fucking Connor, damn him for making me feel like some love struck teenager. It didn't bother me that I was attracted to him. Hell, I don't know how I couldn't be. He was fucking beautiful. Too perfect to be real. I don't even want to know what the goddamn pervert who made him was thinking at the time. But I didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable and I didn't want to ruin what we already have. He was lovely and I just don't know what to fucking do with lovely. This was one relationship I never wanted to fuck up.

"Lieutenant, I have a feeling that if you had an LED indicating your mental processing state, it would be yellow right now as well."

I snorted.

"If that's your weird android way of asking me if something is wrong, don't worry about it. I'm fine.

Connor smiled and turned his gaze forward.

"Whatever you say, lieutenant."

* * *

"Please, you don't have to do this lieutenant!"

I rolled my eyes as I stacked another box in the corner of the spare bedroom.

"I already told you Connor, I'm not using this room for anything."

"It… just seems like a lot of trouble."

I gave an aggravated grunt as I straightened up.

"Look," I said as I turned to face him. "You need some space that you can make your own and this room is doing nothing but holding my junk and collecting dust."

His eyes scanned the room briefly and I wondered how exactly his brain was picking it apart.

"I am more than content with sitting on the couch and going into my dormant state."

"No Connor. That's fucking weird."

His big brown eyes locked onto mine and I could almost see the internal struggle he was having. I guess androids wouldn't be used to humans doing nice things for them. They were our tools after all. They did what they were told and got no appreciation for it. I'm sure this wasn't an easy thing for him to adjust to. I gave a heavy sigh, dragging my hand down my face.

"Look, if you would feel more comfortable on the couch then that's fine. But I want to have this room available for you to use if you start feeling up to it. Okay?"

Connors lips twitched upward.

"Thank you lieutenant, I really appreciate this."

"And for Christ sakes Connor, stop calling me that. We aren't at work."

"You would like for me to address you as Hank?"

"Yes, thank you."

He gave me a quick nod and placed his hand on my shoulder as he walked by me. He stood in the middle of his new room and glanced around curiously, taking his time as he looked it over. I couldn't stop the small smile that tugged at my lips. Something in my heart swelled as I watched him for a moment. I was surprised at the way my body reacted to his happiness.

I took a step back and gripped the door knob, stealing one last glance at the plastic boy before I pulled the door closed, leaving him to enjoy his new room in peace

* * *

"Jeffrey! We need to talk."

I pulled open the glass door to Jeffrey's office, Connor silently following behind me. Jeffrey looked up from his stack of files, his eyes going back and forth between me and Connor.

"What's this about?"

"Don't you think it's about time you actually pay Connor for the work he does around this shit hole?"

Jeffrey snorted and my fists clenched in anger.

"Pay an android? Are you out of your goddamn mind? Why on earth would I pay an android when I can just as easily replace him with one that works for free?"

"Because, Jeffrey." I seethed as I leaned towards him, jabbing a finger in his direction. "He isn't just some fucking android. He is the android who worked his ass off on that deviant case for you. He is the android that has taken multiple bullets for YOUR fucking people! And almost everyone in this building feels better and works more efficiently with him at their side!"

"Almost… everyone." Jeffery stated coldly as he shifted his gaze to Connor.

My eyes flicked over to Connor to gage his expression. It should come as no surprise that his face remained completely neutral and his LED blinked a cool blue. He had such a good soul. He deserved so much better than this. I gave a cold laugh as I straightened up.

"Is that so?"

Connors eyes landed on me as his eyebrows pulled together.

"Alright, If that's how you want it to be."

I slipped my hand inside my coat pocket and grabbed my wallet. Flipping it open, I pulled out my Detroit police badge and slammed it down on the table.

"The fuck are you doing Anderson?"

"You don't wanna pay him? Then consider this my resignation!"

"You can't do that!"

"Lieutenant Anderson?" Connor called from behind, taking a step towards me.

"The fuck I can't! You don't want him? Then you don't get me!" I turned on my heel and gripped Connors shoulder, turning him as well and pushing him towards the office door. "Come on Connor, We got a desk to clean."

I heard Jeffrey's muffled curses as the door closed shut behind us.

"Lieutenant Anderson wait."

"What is it Connor?"

"You can't just quit your job."

"I just did."

Connor blinked a few times as his brows knit together.

"How are you going to be able to afford all your living expenses now?"

"I'll figure it out."

Connors LED now blinked a bright yellow as he stared at me silently.

"What is it?"

He swallowed hard and his voice was soft.

"I am merely concerned about you lieutenant."

His words shouldn't have made my chest tighten, but by hell if they didn't anyway.

"Don't be. I just…" I sighed. "I need some coffee…"

"Wait." Connor grabbed my arm as I turned. "Let me get you some."

"Connor you don't have to-"

"Please Lieutenant."

I stared at him for a long moment, trying to pick apart what was going on inside his plastic head. Giving up rather quickly I shrugged, turning towards my soon to be former desk.

"Knock yourself out."

Connor nodded and turned.

"Hey!" I called to him. "That's just a figure of speech, you got it?"

His mouth twitched up at one side.

"Got it."

I sighed, looking over my desk as I begin to gather up my belongings. I put all the stacks of papers and files I had strung about into one neat pile, then I pulled out the garbage can from underneath my desk and tossed all the garbage I had accumulated from all the takeout and the occasional donut run. I had taken down my anti android slogan board a week or so ago. It's hard to believe I used to feel such hate towards them. I felt my heart tug when I glanced at the paper clippings of me during my years of service, briefly scanning over the printed words as they celebrated my accomplishments. Was I making the right decision here? I wanted to do the right thing for Connor. It was just that, throwing away all my years here was a huge step.

I was pulled from my thoughts by a loud crash coming from the break room.

"Aw shit."

I turned, dodging desks as I ran towards the noise. Faintly I could hear Gavin's voice.

"Don't you know how to follow simple fucking orders? Something get all messed up in your programming metal head?"

I turned the corner to see Gavin gripping Connors collar, holding him against the wall while Connor was his calm and collected self.

Well, that makes one of us.

"Hey! Get your fucking hands off of him!"

Gavin's eyes snapped to me and he smirked. This fucking bastard knew just how to make my blood boil.

"I'm sorry." He mocked as he released his grip, "Was I too rough with your play thing?"

Connor rolled his shoulders and adjusted his tie. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"The fuck you getting at Gavin?"

I balled my hands into fists, trying my very best to not knock the mother fucker out right then and there.

"Oh don't play dumb Anderson. We all know you're living with this android now. You went from one extreme to another real quick didn't you?"

I took a heavy step towards him.

"I don't think it's any of your goddamn business."

"Hey I don't blame you." Gavin said, raising his hands. "This thing looks like fucking sex god." My stomach turned as Gavin's eyes roamed all over Connors body. "I'd probably make him my sex toy too." Connors head tilted as Gavin took a step towards him, never breaking eye contact. "You'd obey me like a good little android should and every night you'd be sucking my-"

It doesn't take a genius to figure out what he was going to say next, but I didn't give him the chance. I sent my fist flying into that pricks face. I felt the crunch beneath my fist as the bone popped out of place and Gavin stumbled backwards, holding his now bleeding nose.

"Hey!" Tina Chen yelled as she made her way into the break room, looping her arms around Gavin's when he tried to lunge at me.

"You fucking ass hole!" Gavin seethed.

"You cant do this now Gavin," Tina grunted into his ear. "They will get your ass this time if you do!"

I felt a thin arm wrap around my waist and tug me back.

"Lieutenant!" Connor yelled as he pulled me out of the room.

"Touch him again and I'll fucking kill you Reed!"

"Get out of here Anderson!" Chen yelled.

Connor pulled me quickly through the building and out the front door where the falling snow helped calm my temper, sort of.

"Goddamn it Connor. Why didn't you stick up for yourself?"

"What was the point? Everything he said was untrue."

"That's not the point Connor."

He paused and looked at me curiously.

"Lieutenant, detective Reed always says things like this to me. Why does it upset you so much?"

"Because!" I said throwing my hands in the air. "You didn't deserve any of that! You're so nice and innocent and I'll be damned if I let someone talk about you like your some goddamn sex bot!"

I could feel my heart pounding as I paced back in forth in the snow, Connors big brown eyes on me the whole time.

"I can see this has had a negative effect on you."

I gave a heavy sigh and turned towards him.

"Yeah, it has."

Suddenly two arms wrapped around my body as Connor pressed himself against me. I could feel his fingertips pressing into my back. Do androids wear cologne? He smelled fucking amazing. And he felt so life like. It almost made my head spin. His soft hair brushed against my cheek and his body felt warm. My breath caught in my throat. Goddamn you Connor for being so perfect.

"Thank you, Hank." His voice was smooth and sincere in my ear.

I lifted one hand and pressed it against his lower back, returning the hug in my own awkward way.

"Yeah." My breath blew his hair around as I spoke. "You're welcome."

Connor released me just before the door behind us popped open.

"Anderson!"

I turned to see Jeffrey standing in the doorway.

"Jesus, what is it now?"

"Get your asses in here so we can negotiate his pay!"

I smirked as Connors wide eyes bore into mine.

"Who said violence is never the answer?"

"I believe that phrase was said by-"

"It was a rhetorical question Connor."

"…Oh"

I shook my head and placed an arm around his shoulder, guiding him into the building.

"Come on, lets go get you an official job."


	2. Chapter 2

I threw my head back, slamming down my umpteenth drink of the night. I was well on my way to drunk and I knew it. Work today had been a killer. Homicides are never easy and the one we were assigned today was gruesome. Connor was business as usual. Nothing ever gets to him when he's on the clock. It was like he could turn his emotions on and off. Fucking lucky androids.

"Pour me another Jim." I mumbled as I slid the glass across the bar.

Jim just nodded and took my empty glass. He gave up lecturing me about my drinking habits years ago. Thank fuck for that.

"Maybe you should slow down Hank."

Connors voice cut right through the music and the haze of liquor. I looked over at him and I couldn't believe my eyes.

He was in normal clothes for once. He wore a white button up shirt with pink pin stripes that hugged his thin waist just right, tucked into his dark blue jeans. He had a black leather belt and some dark dress shoes on. The whole outfit just complemented him. Christ, He looked amazing. I smirked at him as he sat down on the stool next to me. He faced the dance floor and leaned his elbows back on the bar. Even as he lounged, he still had perfect posture. He was too perfect to be human.

"Mind your own damn business Connor."

His mouth turned up slightly and I felt my stomach tighten. Damn alcohol

"Whatever you say."

Jim slipped me another drink and I picked it up, sipping it a few times. The burning feeling hardly even registered with me anymore.

"How are you feeling? I could tell you were troubled after today's events."

I raised my eyebrows at Connor, not expecting the question.

"Uh... I'm alright."

He looked at me for a long moment, his brown eyes studying me before he gave a small nod. I wondered if he was analyzing me in his freaky android way. Something about the way he was looking at me made me want to squirm in my seat.

"Do...uh, you want a drink or something?" I said gesturing towards the bar.

He smiled, perking his eyebrow up.

"I can't drink hank, I'm an android."

"Right, just figured I'd ask."

I used to hate when he would call himself that. I didn't want to like an android. They were nothing but hunks of plastic created to do whatever they were told. Nothing more, nothing less. At least that's what I used to think. Then I met Connor, and he changed everything. I watched as he learned to feel just like humans do. I watched him struggle with the mission he was programmed to accomplish because his heart told him something different. I'm grateful to whatever god is out there that he ended up as my partner in the end. And that he decided to stick around with my hateful ass after it was all over.

"Excuse me?"

We both turned to see a young girl with short brown hair and a fitting black dress walking towards us. She was a good looking girl with a flirty little smile. Wonder what she wanted with us? We both straightened up in our seats.

"What can we do for you?" I asked.

She gave a wide smile, turning to Connor.

"Are you that android that freed all those other androids at CyberLife for the revolution?"

My eyebrows shot up and I glanced over at Connor. He smiled at her.

"Yes I am." He extended his hand to her. "My name is Connor."

"Wow." She breathed, taking his hand. "You were all over the news! It's so good to finally meet you."

You could practically see stars in the girls eyes. She looked like she was really into Connor. His LED swirled yellow for a second.

"Your name is Brittany. It's good to meet you too."

Her eyes widened.

"H-How did you know that?"

"It's part of my programming."

Connor winked, and hell I swooned a little too. The girl nodded towards the dance floor over her shoulder.

"Would you like to dance?"

His eyes widened and he looked to me. I couldn't help but laugh.

"What are you looking for permission or something?"

He turned his gaze to the girl, then back to me, a question in his eyes. I sighed.

"I believe this pretty girl just asked you to dance."

The girl grabbed his hand and tugged a little.

"Come on, It'll be fun!"

"Okay..." Connor agreed as he slowly pulled himself to his feet.

I watched as the girl happily pulled him towards the dance floor. Laughing I turned towards Jim to pay for my next few drinks. The music was an upbeat dance song.

"This ought to be good Jim. I don't think the poor thing has ever danced in his life."

I fished thorough my wallet pulling out some cash.

"Uh... I wouldn't be so sure about that Hank..."

"Huh?"

I knit my eyebrows together. Jim nodded towards the dance floor. I turned and my mouth fell open.

There was Connor, dancing like he had done it his whole life. He rolled his lean body and rocked his hips to the music. Every move his body made was perfect. The sight was mouthwatering. His skin shined deliciously under the dim lights as his body moved in a hypnotizing way. He placed a hand on the girl's hip, pulling her closer to his body. The girl was flushed and biting her lip. Clearly she was enjoying his performance. She slipped an arm around his neck as she grinded against him. Connor released her and slowly ran his hands through her hair, brushing the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip. Goddamn plastic boy.

A gnawing feeling tugged at the pit of my stomach. Maybe I was wrong about him. Maybe he did have a sexual preference. I always just thought that androids didn't pay attention to things like that. But maybe Conner was into girls, or maybe both? Or maybe... he just wasn't into a fifty three year old out of shape alcoholic who had little to offer him.

The music changed to a slow song and I watched as Conner gripped the girl's hands and slid them around his own neck, then he placed his hands at a respectable height on her hips. The girl wasn't having that though. She scooted Connors hands down lower so they were resting on the sides of her ass. To my surprise he just laughed and left them there.

I scoffed and turned around. Why should I give a damn about that anyway? I should just be happy the boy is having a good time and not up my ass for once.

Jim gave me a look.

"What?"

"Nothing." He said as he wiped down the bar, a knowing look on his face.

I swallowed my drink down and slammed the glass on the table. The song changed again and I glanced over my shoulder to see the brown headed girl whisper something in Connors ear. His eyebrows lifted and he leaned down to say something back to her. I watched as she pouted and let go of him. He smiled sweetly at her and kissed her hand before turning and walking back towards me.

I grunted and turned in my seat.

"Well that went different than I expected. I didn't know you could dance, Connor."

Connor sat down next to me and rubbed his palms against his jeans.

"I downloaded a program that I thought was appropriate and ran it accordingly. I hope it was sufficient."

I blinked hard at him a few times, trying to wrap my head around what he was saying.

"So... all that was just some program?"

"Correct."

"Oh..." Why did that make me feel better? "Well why did you stop?"

Connor looked towards the dance floor, then back at me.

"She wanted to go back to her place and take things further."

I choked on my drink.

"I knew that this was a possible outcome, it was written in the program that some people choose to do that sort of thing. So I turned her down."

The way he phrased that sounded odd. I cleared my throat

"So, why did you?"

He turned his brown eyes towards me.

"Because I am not equipped."

I knit my eyebrows together.

"Meaning...?"

Connors mouth turned up.

"I don't have an artificial penis."

I glanced around quickly, checking to see if anyone heard him.

"Can you not say that so goddamn loud?" I barked.

"Sorry Hank."

A silence washed over us, but his big brown eyes never left mine. My body felt like it was tingling under his stare and I blame the next thing that came out of my mouth on the damn alcohol.

"That's a shame... Do you ever wish you did?"

Connors mouth parted and he tilted his head. My heart sped up like I was a fucking child. I could tell he had unspoken words on his lips.

"Another drink hank?"

Jim's voice broke through the moment and we both blinked and looked away. I gave a heavy sigh.

"Yeah Jim, pour me another."

* * *

"Oh god" I groaned as another round of vomit poured from my mouth.

Why do I do this to myself? I gripped the toilet seat and straightened up. A wet piece of vomit soaked hair fell against my face.

"Fucking great..."

A small knock came from the bathroom door.

"Hank, are you okay?"

"I'm fine! Just keep the damn door shut for Christ's sake!"

It got silent and for once I thought Connor was actually going to do what I said. Should have known better.

"I'm coming in Hank."

"Of fucking coarse you are..."

Connor carefully pushed the door open and stepped inside. His LED spun yellow as he looked at me.

"Can you just not analyze me right now, okay?"

He blinked a few times and it returned to blue. My guess is he did it anyways.

I sighed, stumbling as I pulled myself to my feet. Connor reached out to steady me. The warmth of his hands sent unexpected goose bumps up my arms. I was so drunk. I just wanted to touch him…

"Oh god, I need to go to bed."

"You need to get that out of your hair."

"Yeah well, I don't think that's going to happen tonight."

"I cannot let you go to bed with those contents in your hair Hank."

I rolled my eyes as he closed the toilet lid and sat me down. I heard the water come on in the shower and felt the air in the bathroom start to heat up.

"What the fuck are you doing, Connor?" I groaned.

"Assisting you." He answered as he gripped the hem of my shirt and pulled it over my head.

"Hey!" I yelled, regaining my balance. "I don't need assistance!"

Connor didn't respond. He knelt down and pulled open my belt. My breath caught in my throat. I watched his thin fingers pry open the buttons and prayed that my dick didn't get hard because this image was fucking hot. His brown eyes flicked up to mine for just a second before he pulled my pants down my legs, leaving my boxers in place. He helped me out of them, making sure I didn't tip over, before standing back up.

I felt like a total dumbass sitting there almost naked in front of the perfect android that is Connor.

"Now what?" I mumbled.

Connor reached for his shirt and began unbuttoning it. Holy fucking Christ. My already flushed face felt like it was on fire. Each button he popped open revealed more and more of his pale, freckled skin and I was finding it very hard to not imagine my tongue dragging across it.

"Why are you doing that Connor?"

"I told you." He paused to slip himself out of the shirt "I'm going to assist you."

I couldn't really comprehend what he meant through my alcoholic haze. I waited for him to take his pants off too, but he never did. Instead he reached under my arms and hauled me to my feet.

"Thank you in advance for your cooperation." He said with a smirk, his face just inches from mine.

I laughed. Yeah. We've been in this position before haven't we? Well, maybe not this _exact_ position, him pulling me into the shower, both of us half naked. Me more so than him. But something similar to this.

The warm water washed over my skin, sobering me a little. What the fuck was I letting him do to me? I was directly under the water stream. Connor was mostly out of it's reach but still some water splashed onto his chest and trickled down his stomach, disappearing at the waistline of his pants.

"Why in god's name are you wearing your jeans in the shower?"

Connor grabbed the shampoo bottle, squirting some into his hand,

"I figured you would be more comfortable this way."

"Why not just strip to your boxers like you did me?"

What the fuck was I saying?

The corner of Connors mouth turned up.

"I don't wear them."

My dick twitched. I knew I shouldn't find something like that so fucking hot, but hell I did anyway.

Connor lathered the shampoo into my hair and his thin fingers massaged my scalp. He put pressure at the base of neck and circled his fingers upwards, washing my hair thoroughly. I wondered if he had to download a program for this too.

"You're not going to short circuit are you? You sure you're water proof?"

"I am one hundred percent water proof. I can take as many showers as you want."

Holy fuck, he was teasing me. He had to be. He pressed the pads of his fingers against the top of my scalp. I moaned involuntarily at the feeling and Connor smirked. Fuck he was beautiful.

"I'm glad to see you are enjoying this."

I know he didn't mean it the way I wanted him to.

"You shouldn't say things like that to me right now."

Connor tilted his head.

"Why?"

I should have never gotten this drunk. I can't control the things coming out of my fucking mouth.

"Uh... never mind."

He blinked at me a few time before he pushed me back a little.

"Time to rinse."

I sighed and closed my eyes. The soap trickled down my face and Connor rinsed my hair until it was suds free.

His body was dripping, and it was so close to mine. I watched the droplets slide down his thin stomach and curve over his unnecessary belly button. I wanted to reach out and touch them.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

"Alright, alright!" I yelled swatting away his hands. "I think I'm clean now."

I turned to step out of the tub. I couldn't stand being so close to him anymore.

"Hank!" Connor yelled, reaching out to pull me back.

"Shit!"

I lost my balance and tumbled forward into Connor, one hand landing against the wall behind him, next to his head. The other hand pressed against his chest. My body was pressed flush against his. He held me at the waist, steadying me. His body was so warm. I couldn't wrap my head around how he felt so lifelike. I would have thought androids were cold and hard. I was so goddamn wrong. I felt the scruff of my beard catching and dragging across his cheek. He smelled so good. I straightened up slightly, pushing off the wall, Connors hands never leavening my waist. My eyes flicked to his lips, his mouth only a breath away from mine.

Even through the haze of liquor I knew this was wrong. I should back away and get out of this tub. But goddamn it I just couldn't bring myself to care right now. I was going to regret this in the morning.

I took one last look into those big brown eyes, looking for any sign of hesitation before I closed the gap between us. My lips molded to his and for a moment he was still.

Shit, I've probably fucked this up. I could just picture the yellow LED on his temple spinning.

Finally he responded to me. He pushed his mouth against mine, his lips parting slightly as his wet tongue dragged along my bottom lip. He wanted this? He fucking wanted this!

With a new found vigor I cupped the back of his neck, pressing his mouth firmer onto mine. His hands tugged at me. His mouth massaged into mine franticly. Each kiss getting more and more desperate. I slipped my tongue between his perfect lips, exploring the inside of his mouth. It was surprisingly wet and felt absolutely real. He had a taste of all his own. It wasn't some plastic or metallic taste. He simply tasted like… Connor. And Connor was fucking intoxicating.

I pulled my lips from his to kiss a trail down his jaw line, my beard scraping across his perfect pale skin.

"Hank." He half breathed into my ear.

His body stiffened. I stopped my assault on his skin and moved back, dropping my eyes to the floor.

"Shit, Connor I'm sorry"

He pressed a palm to my chest.

"Don't be sorry Hank. I would like to do that again. But I would rather it be when you're sober."

I smirked.

"What? Not into a good drunken make out session?"

His mouth turned up.

"I would just rather this be something you won't regret at a later time."

My bruised ego felt better when I realized this was something he still wanted, he just wants me to be sure about it. Little did he know that drunk Hank and sober Hank want pretty much the same things. Drunk Hank just didn't give a fuck. He was right though. I needed to wait.

"Yeah, we'll uh… do this at a different time."

Connor smiled and gave me a nod before he turned and shut the water off. I watched as he climbed out of the tub. He grabbed a towel and turned towards me helping me out and drying me off.

I was very aware of the fact that kissing him made me as hard as a rock, but he never acknowledged it. And to be honest, I was grateful. Once again he guided me to the toilet and sat me down.

"Dry your hair, I'll be back."

"Yeah, yeah."

He left the bathroom and I ran the towel through my hair. It was an odd feeling having someone want to take care of me after all these years. Especially when that someone was an android. It was strange, but not unwelcome.

When Connor returned he was wearing plaid pajama bottoms and no shirt. Why does he look so good no matter what he's in? Like I said, too perfect to be human. I guess that's the allure of androids in the first place.

"I got you some dry boxers."

I tried not to let my face get red as he knelt down at my feet.

"Hey!" I yelled grabbing the boxers from his hand. "I can do this part, okay?"

He stared at me for a minute before nodding and standing.

I gripped the waistline of my boxers and started to pull them down until I noticed Connors eyes were still on me.

"Uh... arn't you going to turn around?"

Connor rolled his eyes. He rolled his damn eyes, and turned around.

I scoffed and slid my boxers off, replacing them with the dry ones.

"Okay." I sighed. "I'm done."

Connor helped me to my feet and we made our way to my bedroom. He pulled back the sheets and sat me down.

"Go to bed Hank, we have to go to work tomorrow."

"Yeah, I will."

"Do you need help with anything else?"

I looked up at him and fought the urge to ask him to stay and kiss me into oblivion. I couldn't do this tonight. I owed it to him to wait.

"Uh... no, I'm okay."

"Okay Hank, Sleep well."

Connor gave me one last look before turning and leaving the room. I threw my legs into the bed and laid down, fighting back images of Connor on his knees, looking up at me, pulling down my pants.

Fuck. This boy was going to be the death of me.


	3. Chapter 3

My head was fucking pounding. I couldn't believe Connor let me get that drunk. Normally he would be lecturing me like my fucking mom. Connor. Fuck, I kissed him last night. How could I have done something so stupid? I mean it's not like I didn't want to. I _really_ wanted to. But Christ I didn't want it to be after puking my guts up in the bathroom toilet.

I glanced over at Connor. He was typing something on his computer. His fingers hit the keys again and again at lightning speed. The obnoxious sound of the keyboard seemed like it was getting louder and louder. It was the only sound I could fucking hear and goddamn it my head couldn't take any more of it.

"Can you not type so goddamn loud?"

Connor blinked at me before slowly removing his hands from the keyboard and placing them in his lap.

"Sorry lieutenant." He mumbled.

Fuck I'm such an asshole.

"Sorry, Connor. I just... I have a bad headache."

"I told you to slow down last night."

I sighed, rubbing a hand down my face.

"Yeah, I know you did."

Connor turned his attention back to the screen and stared at it. He didn't even dare reach for the keyboard again. I felt a knot in my stomach. Maybe I should say something to him about what happened.

"Listen, Connor."

He turned his big brown eyes back to me.

"I know last night things got..."

His head tilted to the side.

"You know when you were helping me out and…"

He perked his eyebrow and I sighed.

"I know I kissed you last night, and I wanted to say I'm sorry about it."

He was silent for a long moment. Eventually I knew he wasn't going to respond.

"Goddamn it, say something."

"Do you regret it, lieutenant?"

I rolled his question around in my head for a second.

"No, I don't. I just regret that I did it shit faced drunk, and without your permission."

Connor turned back to his computer and started _carefully_ typing again, much softer this time.

I relaxed a little in my chair and did the same.

"I didn't mind it. In fact, I kind of liked it."

Christ. I knew he liked it a little, He said so last night. But to hear him say it again sober made something deep inside of me knot up. Feeling braver, I leaned towards him with my elbow on the desk.

"Good, then I'll do it again."

Connors brown eyes flicked back to mine and my dick pressed against my jeans. Fuck he was beautiful. I was one second from asking him to meet me in the interrogation room. I knew it would be empty right now...

"Attention all units, we have a 10-200 involving a hostage. Any and all units in the area please respond."

"Holy shit, we got to go!"

Connor pressed two fingers to the scanner. His LED spun yellow for a moment.

"I've got the address. Let's go."

* * *

When we arrived to the scene there was a line of cop cars blocking the main road.

"Jesus Christ. What the fuck is going on?"

Connors eyes unfocused and his LED spun.

"There's a girl behind those cop cars. Her name is Lucy Barker and she is in her early forties. It looks like an android has her."

"Android? Shit, does it have a weapon?"

"Yes. A Glock 19, 9 millimeter semi-automatic pistol. He is holding it to her head."

"Shit! We have to get in there."

Connor nodded and threw his door open. We both stepped out and headed in the direction of the other officers.

"Stay low." I instructed.

"Got it."

We ran up behind a parked cop car and I turned to Chris Miller who was already on the scene.

"What is it saying? Does it want anything?"

"It keeps saying it wants revenge for its daughter."

I knit my eyebrows together.

"Daughter?"

Connor nudged me.

"Somethings not right. If he wanted to shoot that girl he would have done it by now. He wants something else."

Everyone except Connor jumped when the android yelled out.

"IM GOING TO FUCKING SHOOT HER I SWEAR! I SWEAR I WILL!"

"Shit we got to do something."

"Hey!" Reed yelled from the cop car over. "What are you waiting for? Send that fucking android out there!"

"Who, Connor?"

"Yes Connor! Get a fucking move on!"

"No fucking way! He isn't going out there."

"It's a negotiator Anderson, it has to go! I know you don't want your cute little fuck toy broken but it's got a job to do!"

"You're out of your goddamn-"

"It's okay, lieutenant. I'll go."

I snapped my eyes to Connors

"What? Are you crazy?"

"He's right, I have a job to do."

"Connor don't you fucking go. That's an order!"

He gave me one last long look before he stood up.

"I'm sorry, lieutenant."

"Connor! Don't!"

He raised his hands and stepped around the car.

"Connor? Connor! Goddamn it!"

I rose up a little to watch him through the glass of the cop car with my heart in my throat. Christ, I was scared. Goddamn it Connor. Why are you doing this to me?

"Don't shoot. I'm just here to talk."

"It's about time."

The android was a male. He was about six foot three, had dark skin and bright green eyes. He almost resembled Marcus, but the face was a little off.

The woman in the androids arms thrashed around, pulling frantically on the arm that was locked around her shoulders.

"HELP ME! HELP ME PLEASE!"

You could practically see the determination wash over Connors face.

"Android RF4-"

"I HAVE A NAME!"

Connor stopped advancing.

"You're right. I'm sorry. Can I get your name?"

The android gave an evil smirk.

"Trevor. My name is Trevor."

"Hi Trevor. My name is-"

"I know who you are. You're the Android who helped the humans hunt us!"

Oh fuck. My stomach twisted. I had a bad feeling about this.

"That's what I was programmed to do, Trever. I wasn't awake then. I wasn't able to make my own decisions!"

"I don't care! Do you know what you cost us? Do you know how many of our people died because of you?"

Connor remained silent, standing perfectly still. But his LED blinked a bright yellow

"My daughter..."

When he didn't continue Connor pushed.

"Your daughter?"

"This little girl, I cared about her so much. She was a child type android. I took care of her for so many years!"

"I didn't mean-"

A loud shot rang out as a bullet pierced Connors shoulder and blue blood splattered the ground. All around me I heard the sound of weapons readying, mine included.

"It's okay!" Connor yelled, lifting his hands, "I'm okay! Stand down!"

My heart felt like it was lodged in my throat. Please whatever god is out there, don't let him get hurt. Connor straightened his shoulders and returned his attention to the android.

"What happened to your daughter, Trevor?"

"You led the humans to Jericho. She was playing with some other kids. I couldn't make it to her in time!"

The androids eyes began leaking and his body shook, I didn't even know androids could cry. I felt bad for the poor guy. But I felt even worse for Connor. His guilt must be eating him alive.

"I watched as they shot her in cold blood."

Connor took a long time to respond, giving the android a moment to collect itself.

"I know you are angry with me, but killing that woman isn't going to bring her back."

"Nothing is going to bring her back!"

"HELP ME!" The woman screamed.

Connor stayed silent, just watching him. The android sobbed, tears falling down his face.

"What can I do to help?"

The android wiped a hand down his face, wiping away the tears.

"I want you to draw your gun."

The fuck was he going to do? I gripped my gun tighter and walked towards the front of the car to get a better view.

Connor knit his eyebrows together.

"What for?"

"JUST DO IT!"

Connor slowly raised his hands.

"Okay… Okay."

Connor reached for his gun and lifted it slowly but he didn't point it towards the android. He kept his palms facing out.

"Good, now put it against your head."

"Connor, Fall back!" I yelled, my pulse thrumming in my ears.

"Don't you move Connor, I'll kill her!"

The android pressed the gun harder against the girls head and she cried out again.

"Killing me won't make you feel any better Trevor."

"That's where you're wrong Connor. I watched as my daughter was slaughtered because of you! Killing you will bring me justice."

"Connor!" I tried again. "Fall back goddamn it!"

"Who is that who keeps yelling for you?"

Connors expression remained neutral but his LED blinked a bright red. It didn't go unnoticed by Trevor.

"Ah, someone of importance perhaps?" The android grinned. "Come out! Show yourself!"

"He's only a coworker."

He was bluffing. He's trying to protect me. Dammit Connor. I couldn't let him stand out there alone. I turned towards Chris.

"Get a unit behind him carefully. Don't draw is attention. While we have him distracted kill the son of a bitch."

The android shifted his gun and pointed it at Connor.

"I'll kill him where he stands!"

"I'm coming!" I yelled as I raised my hands and slowly walked towards where Connor stood.

I glanced towards Connor. His disapproval written plainly all over his face.

"What the fuck was I supposed to do, huh? Just let him shoot you?"

"Yes. That's exactly what you were supposed to do."

His answer and his hard stare made my blood run cold. I tried to swallow back my fear and turn towards the android.

"So, who is he to you?"

"I'm Lieutenant Anderson-"

"I'm not asking you!"

I swallowed hard. Connor eyed me for a moment as if deciding his approach.

"I told you, he is a coworker."

"Strange how none of your other coworkers were speaking up for you. You keep lying and I'll kill him right now."

There was a long pause before Connor spoke again.

"He's my partner." Connor said reluctantly with a tight jaw.

I looked at him. He was visibly agitated and his LED blinked red. I didn't know much about androids, but I knew that meant he was having a hard time with something. My heart swelled thinking of how much he meant to me.

"But he's more than that." The android said, more of a statement than a question. "You care for him, right?"

Connor nodded slowly.

"Perfect. Now you can watch as I take him away from you."

The android pointed his gun to me.

Even though the next few things happened in a span of about three seconds, everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Suddenly I felt Connors hand wrap around my wrist and yank me hard. I fell sideways and landed hard on the ground. Addled, I blinked a few good times and looked up to see Connor throw himself over top of me. He braced himself against the ground with his arms beside my head. I heard two loud gunshots fire and watched as Connors face scrunched up and blue blood stained the front of my coat.

My throat got tight and my ears were ringing. I felt like I was choking on my fear.

"Connor?" I breathed.

At first he didn't move. I cursed myself for not making the effort to know the inner working of an android. I didn't know what to look for. I didn't know how to help him. I felt incredibly desperate, and _vulnerable_.

He slid his eyes open. Oh thank fuck.

"Connor, you're hit."

He let out a labored breath.

"I'm okay."

His eyebrows were pulled together and his plastic body trembled.

"Does it hurt?"

"It… doesn't feel pleasant. But I don't imagine it's the same as human pain."

Carefully I pushed against him, holding one arm at his back to steady him as I rose off the ground. I looked towards the android. He was face first in his own puddle of blue blood and the girl was unharmed. I caught the eye of the Chris and gave him a nod for a job well done. Then I turned my attention back to Connor. He was clutching at his stomach and grimacing.

"How do I help you?"

My voice shook and sounded more desperate that I thought it would.

"Connor, talk to me goddamn it!"

He looked up at me.

"I need replacement parts, immediately."

"A CyberLife store?"

He hesitated.

"That will work."

I went to stand up, but Connors hand wrapped around my wrist.

"Hank." He strained.

I glanced at his face. His eyes showed his fear.

"Don't let them inside my head."

I felt my eyes sting at the sound of desperation in his voice.

"I'm not going to let anyone hurt you again. You got that?"

And I fucking meant it.

I slipped one arm under his legs and the other around his back before lifting him from the ground and heading towards CyberLife.


	4. Chapter 4

"I'm sorry, but there is a waiting list do to the amount of repairs coming in recently. We can put your android in dormant mode and you can pick it up good as new in three days." The android working the front desk of the CyberLife store said.

"He isn't a goddamn car, I need him repaired now."

"I'm sorry sir, but I can't take your request before the others."

I looked over at Connor, he was sitting in a chair, holding his stomach and slouched over with his eyebrows knit together. Seeing him like this, I knew androids were capable of feeling some sort of pain. I wasn't about to leave him here alone in CybberLife's care, and I was getting desperate.

"Look. I'll pay you whatever it takes to get him fixed now."

The android I was speaking to over the counter blinked and her LED turned yellow.

"I will have to consult with my supervisor. One moment please."

She turned and went though some sliding doors. Christ, this was taking way longer than I was comfortable with. I glanced over my shoulder at Connor again.

"How you holding up?"

Connor looked at me. Even in pain he was still so fucking beautiful. What has this boy done to me?

"I'm managing."

The doors slid open and the android walked towards me.

"An extra charge of three hundred dollars will get your android repaired now."

"Yes, that's fine. Thank you."

Connor shifted in his seat

"Hank-"

"-Shut up Connor."

"For the repairs needed the charge will come to a total of one thousand eight hundred fifty nine dollars and thirty one cents."

I'm not going to lie, that kind of money most defiantly was going to put a dent in my funds, but I planned on the police department reimbursing me for it. Extra charge and all. I paid and went to Connors side, helping him to his feet and guiding him towards the door leading to the back.

CyberLife made me sick. In the front of the store they have androids by the dozens, stocked on displays for potential buyers. But the back of the store was like a fucking garage. Hundreds of androids lined the walls either waiting to be worked on, or waiting to be picked up. The sight made my stomach turn.

"You can place your android on the white table there and the technician will be with you shortly."

I nodded as she turned around and left.

"They make it seem like I'm getting my fucking computer fixed."

Connor grunted as I sat him down.

"That's essentially what we are Hank. Not everyone sees us as equals."

"You are more than just some goddamn machine Connor. If they spent any time with you at all they would know that too."

His perfectly crafted mouth turned up at one side.

"I remember a time not too long ago when you referred to me as a 'plastic asshole'."

I scoffed and crossed my arms.

"Yeah, well I didn't know you then, and you are kind of an asshole."

Connors smile slowly fell.

"People aren't going to change overnight. We androids still have a long battle ahead. This is only the beginning."

He sounded so somber about it. In moments like these it was hard to see the difference between him and me.

"Okay, let's have a look at it."

I glanced towards the doors as a gruff looking guy with a scraggily beard walked towards us wiping his dirtied hands on a towel. He didn't look surprised as he surveyed the bullet holes.

"Shouldn't be too hard to fix. I'll just shut it down and get to it."

The guy reached for Connor.

"No!"

I grabbed his wrist.

"Leave him on."

The guy was clearly confused as he looked between me and Connor.

"It's just part of the procedure."

"I don't care. Don't turn him off."

The man withdrew his hand.

"Okay… we will leave him on then…"

I nodded and relaxed a little. He helped Connor out of his jacket and shirt and began working on him.

"This model is brand spanking new. How'd you get your hands on this bad boy?"

I shifted a little, not really knowing how to answer the question.

"Uh… he is my partner at work."

The guy raised his eyebrow.

"You're paying an awful lot of money for someone who's just your partner."

"Yeah…"

I didn't feel the need to explain myself to this man. The truth is Connor wasn't just my partner. But I couldn't make other people understand what Connor was. Hell, I hardly understood what he was. But the world didn't want to see him the way I saw him.

I glanced down as the guy worked. It was so odd to see Connors stomach covered in plastic and opened up. Blue wires hung everywhere and they all were coated in blue blood. How can something so full of hardware also be so… alive? I decided to look away as the guy finished up. What was exposed on that table wasn't my Connor. Connor was more than just his mechanical parts. Once he was done with his stomach, he patched his shoulder.

"There! Good as new."

I turned around and watched as Connor blinked a few times before sitting up on the table.

"Well, how do you feel?"

His big brown eyes found mine and I felt a weight leave my body. Connor wasn't just some attraction I had now. I needed him. And that was fucking scary.

"Much better." His LED spun yellow. "Everything seems to be in working order."

He turned his attention to the technician.

"Thank you for the assistance. I truly appreciate it."

"Yeah, you're welcome." The guy eyed Connor. "You know, most of the time you guys are deactivated when I'm working on you. I'm not used to getting any 'thank yous'."

Connor stood and put his clothes back on. I thanked the man before we headed towards the car.

"Thank fuck that's over with."

Connors mouth turned up and he adjusted his tie.

* * *

I had went and lost my goddamn mind. My body was suddenly hyper aware of everything that was Connor. Maybe it was because I had just come so close to knowing what it feels like to lose him. When he spoke I noticed how his lips slowly pealed apart. I paid extra attention to the perfect curve of his mouth. When he moved I noticed how his clothes sat a little differently on his body than they did before. I could smell him all around me and I wanted to _drown_ in it. I was like a fucking animal in heat and all I wanted was Connor.

I hit my blinker and took a sharp turn into an empty parking lot.

"Where are we going Hank?"

I didn't answer as I shoved the shifter into park.

Connor blinked a few times before he looked at me. He tilted his head and I lost it.

I pushed myself off of the dash and crawled over top of Connor, pinning him to the door. His eyes widened but he didn't stop me. He let out a ragged breath as I leaned towards him and captured his mouth with mine. Images of him dripping in blue blood flooded my mind. Fuck I was so scared to lose him today. His lips pressed against mine timidly. I slid my hand up to cup his neck, my mouth devouring every sweet little gasp I extracted from him. My other hand founds its way to the buttons of his shirt.

Clumsily I pulled about half of them open then ran my hand along his smooth pale skin. Connor raised his knees and I crawled between them. I could feel the heat radiating from him. I felt him slide his hands up my back and tangle into my hair. This fucking boy drove me crazy. He parted his lips and ran his tongue along my bottom lip. I groaned, opening my mouth for him. He was so eager, it was so fucking hot. I felt him push his warm tongue into my mouth, running it along my own, tasting me desperately. With every kiss he got better and better at it till he was a goddamn expert.

My dick pushed up againt my jeans uncomfortablly. I wanted him so bad. I ripped my mouth from his and trailed some rough kisses along his jaw.

"Hank." Connor groaned desperately. "I have to tell you something."

"I know you're not equipped, Connor."

"No, I wanted to tell you that a downloaded a program for this."

I pulled my mouth away from his pale skin and stared at him.

"Really? When did you do that?"

"Lastnight, after our shower."

My stomach tightend. The fact that he liked that first kiss so much that he downloaded some kind of sex program was the most attractive thing I had ever heard.

"Okay, So how does it work?"

"I haven't tried it yet, but I know that it will activate my pleasure sensors."

His words made my mouth water.

"And where are those?"

"I'm not sure. Currently my most sensitive areas are my fingertips and my mouth. But I would assume when the program is activated it will activate areas similar to the human bodies sensitive areas."

I leaned towards him again, latching my mouth to his, kissing him into oblivion. He grasped at my coat and crushed his body against mine, mumbling against my lips.

"I'm going to activate it now."

I nodded and sucked his perfect lower lip between my teeth. Connor went still for a second, then gasped against my mouth. Fuck I was so hard.

"You okay?"

He shuttered beneath me.

"Yes, it just feels so... good."

I smirked against his mouth, trailing my hand up his abdomen, reeling at the feel of his porcelain skin underneath my palm. He arched his back when I brushed the pad of my thumb over his right nipple. I straightened up so I could watch him.

"Found one."

His brown eyes locked onto mine and his chest heaved. I was loving this program of his, but I wasn't sure just how far he wanted to take it. Christ knows I didn't want to ruin this by taking it too fast.

"Let me know when you want me to stop, okay?"

"Okay." he breathed.

I ran both of my hands down his stomach, unlatching the final buttons on his shirt before I pulled it open. God he felt so good under my hands. I leaned down and pressed my lips to his chest. My beard dragged slowly over his skin as I trailed my mouth upwards. I darted my tongue out, flicking it roughly against his nipple. Connor arched into my hands and a loud moan tumbled from his mouth. The sound almost made me cum right then and there. It was the most delicious thing I had ever heard.

"Do you like that Connor?" I growled.

"Yes!" he breathed.

My hands moved down his body, resting on his lower stomach as brushed my thumb up and down his crotch. Connors hand gripped at the head rest and he moaned again, even louder.

"Hank, something is happening to me."

The mild concern in his voice made me chuckle.

"If its what I think it is, don't worry. It will feel good."

I couldn't hold back anymore. I straightened up and gripped his hips. His eyes locked with mine. He was panting and shuttering. It was lovely. I pushed my dick against his crotch though my jeans and he cried out.

"Hank!"

I bit my lip and started thrusting against him. My dick twitched and I could feel my boxers already wet with precum dragging up and down my shaft. Connors eyes widened and he rocked his hips in rhythm with mine.

"Don't stop hank, please."

Connor, the fucking android of my dreams was begging me to keep dry humping him. And I fucking did. I slipped my arms under his legs and dragged him closer to me. I grinded hard against him, fucking him through our clothes. My skin broke out in a sweat and the windows were covered in a sheen of fog.I pulled his legs until he was completely laying beneath me. His eyes closed and his mouth was open. He moaned and squirmed, wrapping his legs around my waist, pushing harder against me. I grabbed his hand and slipped the tip of his finger into my mouth, swirling my tongue around it roughly.

"Hank!" He groaned as his body finally went stiff.

He eyes popped open and he arched high off of the seat. He gripped me tight with his free hand as shudders rocked though his body. Fuck he was beautiful.

Watching his sexy android version of an orgasm was enough to send me tumbling over the edge. My climax hit me hard and I jerked my hips against Connors as I came in my jeans like a goddamn teenager.

"Fuck!"

It was the most intense orgasm I have had in a long while. I rode out each wave of pleasure, rocking into Connor over and over, drowning in his little noises.

It took me a moment to catch my breath. I wasn't as spry as I was back when I was younger. I looked down at Connor. He was staring at me, his chest heaved and he looked absolutely gorgeous. His white shirt was open, his jacket hung loosely on his arms, his tie was loosened and his hair was disheveled. He was a fucking perfect picture of beauty.

"You okay?"

He gave me a little nod.

"I understand why humans like to engage in sexual intercourse so much now."

I laughed before I pulled my self up. I adjusted my clothes and tried my best to ignore the sticky feeling in my pants. Connor did the same, sitting up in his seat and re buttoning his shirt. He ran his hands through his dark hair and readjusted his tie. He looked over at me and I realized I was staring. I couldn't help it. He did something strange to my heart.

"I enjoyed that Hank."

I smirked as I turned the key, shifting the car into drive.

"Good, we will do it again soon."

His mouth turned up and he turned towards his gaze towards the window.

"Look." I swallowed hard. "Today, when you were out there with that android and the hostage, the feeling I got was..."

Connor slid his eyes back to mine.

"It was something I never want to feel again. So just be careful, alright?"

He blinked a few times and and knit his eyebrows together.

"I think I felt what you humans call fear."

I nodded, making my way out of the parking lot and back onto the road.

"I would say so. You got shot, _twice_."

"That wasn't why I was scared."

I knit my eyebrows together.

"There was a split second when that android had his gun pointed at you that I wasn't sure if I could save you. The thought of never being able to talk to you, or go home at the end of the day with you, or kiss you again." He added softly. "It scared me."

My eyes widened and I glanced at him. He was still staring at me. I felt my heart swell in my chest.

"That's a very human thing to feel Connor."

His LED spun yellow.

"Please Hank, you be careful as well. And if it comes down to you or me again, Choose you."

"What? Are you out of your goddamn mind?"

"You are human, Hank. I am a machine."

"No fucking way Connor."

"I can be replaced Hank!"

I couldn't believe he was actually raising his voice at me.

"No you cant Connor! I don't give a fuck how many versions of you are out there. No one, not even a perfect goddamn clone of you could ever take your place."

He blinked and his LED returned to blue.

"Just be safe, okay?"

I sighed.

"Yeah, you too."

Goddamn it Connor. What have you done to me?


	5. Chapter 5

"What do you mean we won't be going into work today?"

"Exactly that!" I said with a mouth full of tooth paste. "We are going to stay home, and you are going to relax."

"Why?" Connor argued from the doorway in his normal attire.

"Because you got fucking _shot_ yesterday!"

"Hank, I have ran multiple diagnostic tests. I am running at normal capacity and I'm fully functional."

I spit in the sink and rinsed my brush.

"Look, I don't care. It's already done anyway so end of story."

Connor just knit his eyebrows together and stared at me.

"What?"

"I don't need to rest like humans do, Hank. Missing out on work today is completely unnecessary."

I shrugged brushing past him.

"Not my call."

Connor was way too motivated. It wasn't going to kill him to play hooky for a day. I walked into the kitchen and he followed me.

"You are staying home with me?"

"Yeah, we're a package deal apparently."

Connor stepped in front of me. I gave an aggravated sigh and crossed my arms.

"I suspect you had a hand in this unexpected day off, I want you to know even though I think it's completely unnecessary, I am still very grateful for your concern."

I felt my face heat up.

"Yeah, yeah."

"Allow me to make you breakfast."

"Connor you don't have to do that."

He went towards the fridge anyway.

"I want to Hank. I need to be of some assistance today."

"You know I don't keep you around here to be my slave, right?"

He smirked as he grabbed some eggs and a pan.

"I know hank. You had other reasons in mind when you asked me to live with you."

I laughed.

"Did you just try and make a dirty joke? Cause it was weak."

He remained quite as he cooked, but his smile stayed in place.

Sat down at the table and flipped open the newspaper. Connor brought it in every morning. I half wondered if he waited in the yard for the mail man like a goddamn dog. He sat a cup of coffee in front of me.

"So," I started, taking a big sip, instantly feeling settled as it warmed me. "What are you thinking about doing today?"

"I'm not sure what I could do from home that would be efficient. What about you?"

"You know the whole point of a day off is to not be efficient, right?"

Connor ignored me and finished up my eggs. I sighed.

"I'm going to lay on the couch, put on a few good movies, and not move."

He sat my breakfast in front of me and took a seat.

"Smells good, Thanks Connor."

"I've never watched a movie before."

I eyed him skeptically as I ate.

"Never?"

He shook his head, his face was expressionless.

"Well you should join me then."

He considered it.

"Okay, I will."

"You should change out of your fancy work clothes though."

He tilted his head.

"Is there something wrong with my work clothes?"

I swallowed a few more bites. I actually fucking _loved_ the way his tight button up clung to his lean body.

"Well no, but they won't be comfortable to lounge in."

Connor knit his brows together and seemed to be in deep thought.

I finished up my breakfast and sipped away at my coffee.

"I don't believe I have lounge clothes, Hank."

"None?"

His brown eyes met mine and he shook his head.

"Well, that's okay. You can borrow some of mine."

The side of Connors mouth turned up.

"Can I wear your brown Detroit police department hoodie?"

I eyed him with a smile.

"You like that one?"

Connor nodded.

"It looks…comfortable."

"It is pretty comfortable."

* * *

Per request for some ungodly reason, Connor wanted to watch Shrek. Don't get me wrong, it was a funny movie. It just surprised me that it was the one that drew his attention. He said he liked the bright colors and the fact that he couldn't guess the plot line from just looking at the cover. Who was I to deny him that?

I laid down on the couch and glanced over at him. He was sitting just below my feet wearing my DPD hoodie that was 2 sizes too big on him and a pair of dark blue jeans, with a belt of course. He was lovely. The color really brought out his eyes. He shifted them towards me.

"Are you going to start the movie?"

I had been staring.

"Oh… uh yeah."

I hit the play button on the remote and we both stayed silent throughout the whole movie. I forgot how much I enjoyed watching that one. Every now and again I would watch Connor. He watched the movie as if he was studying for a goddamn test or something. I don't think he knows what it means to relax. I stretched and stood when it ended.

"Okay, time for a beer."

Connor frowned.

"Don't you think it's a bit early ,Hank?

"Hey, it's almost 1pm. That's close enough to 5 for me."

I went to the kitchen and gulped down two beers and brought two more back to the couch with me.

"I get to pick the next one."

I searched through the options on the screen until I found the one I was looking for.

"I Robot?" Connor questioned.

I chuckled.

"Come on! You might like it."

"Somehow doubt it…"

I laid back down on the couch while the movie started. I finished up my two other beers while Connor watched. His eyes were focused on the screen again so I took a moment to get another look at him. His hair was perfect as it almost always was. His jaw was tight from concentrating on the movie. I loved the way his lips curved perfectly and his pale skin was lightly freckled. He was beautiful.

"Hey, come here."

Connor turned his gaze towards me with raised eyebrows and I patted the spot in front of me. He paused for just a moment before he stood and made his way towards me. I scooted back so he could fit but he didn't take up much room anyway. He laid with his back pressed against my chest and his head rested on my arm. I pressed my body comfortably into his and draped my arm around his waist.

I expected to be embarrassed, or for this moment to feel awkward at first. But it never did. It felt completely natural to be wrapped up with him on the couch like this. So much so that my eyes began to droop and eventually I nodded off.

* * *

I felt Connor shift in my arms and I opened my eyes. He had turned around so that he was facing me. His chest pressed against mine and his lips were a breath away.

"Did you like the movie?" I mumbled.

I felt Connor shrug.

"It wasn't very accurate."

I smirked.

"You got to appreciate the effort though."

Connor shifted again and I peered down at him.

"What's wrong?"

He cautiously grabbed a fist full of my shirt, knotting it up in his hand.

"I want to do something." He breathed.

My eyes flicked between his big brown ones. Sometimes he was like a wall. He kept his feelings hidden so well and was unmistakably a machine. Other times, like right now, he was a ball of raw emotion. I loved watching it dance in his eyes. So undeniably alive.

"Then do it." I Whispered.

Connor slowly pressed his lips to mine, brushing them gently against my own. My hands moved on their own accord, slipping up his waist and pressing him harder against me. He slid his arm around my neck and moved his lips slowly. They massaged sweetly onto mine and I could feel his raw emotion. I slipped my hands underneath the baggy hoodie and ran them up his sides. He shivered underneath my touch. I felt like such a man when my hands were exploring his pale skin. He brought out something in me that I thought had died a long time ago.

Connors hands unwound from around my neck and inched down my chest. I wondered what he had planned, but my mouth remained on his. His fingertips slid their way into the waistline of my sweats and his LED blinked yellow.

"Stop." I said as I grabbed his wrist.

He pulled his mouth from mine and stared into my eyes, confused.

"Were you about to download a program to do this?"

He hesitated for a second before nodding.

"Yes, seeing as I am an android specifically designed to solve investigations I am not programmed for this sort of thing originally."

"I don't want you to download anything. I want you to learn by experience."

His eyebrows knit together.

"But, I want to please you."

I leaned down and placed a kiss to his perfectly crafted lips.

"Nothing would please me more then you doing this on your own, without a program telling you what to do."

Connor paused for a moment, then nodded. His eyes dropped from mine and traveled down to where his hands were, tucked halfway inside my sweats. I placed my hands on his hips and drew small circles against his skin with my thumb. He was slow and unsure as he moved. It was like I could feel his eyes on my dick and it was making me so fucking hard. He pressed his palm against me through my boxers and I stiffened. His gentle touch was driving me crazy. His thin fingers traced the shape of my shaft through the thin fabric. Slowly he pealed back my boxers and his warm hand wrapped around me. I sucked a sharp breath between my teeth and his eyes flicked up to mine.

"Did I hurt you Hank?"

"No." I breathed. "It feels good."

A small smile curled his lips before he returned his eyes back to his work. He ran his thumb along the back of my shaft slowly, as if he was testing which areas were better to touch. It was fascinating to watch him learn. Fascinating, and incredibly _sexy_.

His hand began to slowly move and I felt my toes curl. His grip was a little too gentle so I wrapped my hand around his, squeezing a little tighter. A small grunt fell from my mouth and he looked up at me again. His expression caught me off guard. He looked unsure.

"Connor, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, Hank."

The emotion that danced in his eyes just moments ago was now gone.

"Don't you think I can read you a little better than that by now?"

Connor blinked a few times and removed his hand.

"What got you upset?"

"Not upset. It was just a lot of information to process manually at once. And I was… unsure of my actions."

"Connor, you don't ever have to do anything you don't want to. You know that right?"

"I _wanted_ to please you Hank, but I got this strange feeling in my stomach and I started thinking of all the things I could be doing wrong."

I laughed and he tilted his head.

"That sounds like nerves to me. You helped lead an android revolution, but get nervous laying on the couch with little old me."

It took a long while, but eventually the corners of his mouth turned up.

"It seems… illogical doesn't it?"

I shrugged.

"I get nervous too sometimes."

He reached for my sweats.

"I want to try again."

And I wanted him to. God I wanted to feel his hands around me again so fucking bad. But for him I knew it would be best to wait. I gripped his hands in mine and lifted them to my mouth to kiss them.

"Let's just wait for now."

He frowned.

"But I wanted to please you."

I gestured to our current position.

"This pleases me enough."

Connors eyebrows knit together and he studied me. Neither one of us spoke for a long while.

"You've changed."

His words were short and simple, but they held so much meaning. I considered them for a moment and nodded.

"You've changed me."

The next two days went on like this. I called in work saying he needed more time off. Then me and Connor would lounge about all day spending time with each other and doing all sorts of things that weren't very _efficient_. I had changed, and Connor had changed me.


	6. Chapter 6

Connor sat in his usual seat, typing away at the keyboard as he normally did. Eventually we had to cut our hooky days short and actually come back to work. But hell, I didn't want to. I could have spent the rest of my life laying around with Connor at the house, kissing each other into oblivion. Even still I hadn't had enough of him. I watched his thin fingers glide gracefully across the keyboard and tried my best not to imagine them on my dick.

We hadn't taken it that far again since his attack of nerves on the couch and I was _craving_ his touch. I should be at least trying to focus, considering we were pretty fucking far behind on our cases now. I shook my head and turned my attention to the screen and browsed over about thirteen case files before my eyes drifted back to Connor. He was focused, professional, perfect, and everything I am not. I watched as his tongue darted out, wetting those skilled lips of his. My obsession wasn't healthy, but I needed him. _Now_.

I pulled up my email and sent him a message.

 _Connor, turn on your pleasure sensors now._

I hit send and watched as his LED blinked yellow, signifying he received it. His eyes unfocused as he read it before they shifted to me with his eyebrows raised.

"Now lieutenant?"

I nodded.

He seemed to consider it for a second and I almost thought he was going to say no. Then his LED spun yellow and he blinked before locking his eyes onto mine again.

"It is done."

I smirked and reached across the desk to grab one of his hands, being careful to be discreet about it. His brown eyes followed my movements as I stroked my finger along the back of his hand slowly, circling around the knuckle before traveling up the length of his middle digit. I repeated this twice on every finger before I turned his hand over, palm up. His hand was warm to the touch and soft as ever. Everything about Connor appealed to me. With a little bit more pressure I dragged the pad of my finger along his palm and up his fingers until it brushed over his fingertips. I watched his body stiffen. My dick twitched at his reaction. I tilted my fingers so that my nails could drag along his skin, repeating the movement and sliding them over the pads of his fingers. Again his body reacted as I stimulated his sensors. I did this over and over again, watching Connors face the whole time. His eyes never left our hands and his jaw clinched every time I touched the most sensitive part. His mouth fell open slightly and I could see his tongue glistening just past his perfect lips.

I lifted my leg and pressed my shoe against the crotch of his pants underneath the desk. He jumped noticeably this time, his eyes snapping to mine. I couldn't hold back my smirk. I ground my heel against him and a small moan escaped his mouth. I felt him spread his knees further apart and push his hips against me. His lips trembled as more barely audible groans escaped him. I removed my foot for only a second to slip out of my shoe, then pressed my warm sock covered foot against him again. He gasped and slid his eyes closed. I wiggled my toes as I rocked into his crotch over and over, his hips pushing towards me to meet every thrust. His mouth was open and his hands clutched at the desk top. I thought he was about to cum right fucking there.

I withdrew my foot and his eyes snapped open. His wide eyes followed me as I stood.

"Interrogation room, five minutes."

Connor swallowed hard and nodded.

* * *

I paced as I waited, trying not to look at myself in the two-way mirror. My dick was so fucking hard. I needed Connor right now. And as if on cue the door slid open and he stepped inside the interrogation room. He didn't look nervous or shy or even excited. He was completely neutral like always. That is until one corner of his perfect mouth curled upwards.

I sucked a breath between my teeth and took three heavy steps towards him. Before I could even lift my arms, he hand his hands clutching at my coat and his mouth on mine. His kisses always drove me crazy, but these were needy, deep kisses. He ran his hands down my chest and pulled my shirt up. A part of me wanted to flinch away. Connors body was amazing and compared to him I was lacking to say the least. But I stayed where I was and let him run his hands up my shirt. I threaded one hand through his black hair and pulled his hips against me with the other. Connor ran his hot tongue over my bottom lip before taking it in between his teeth and biting it. I groaned.

"Fuck, Connor."

Beneath my shirt I felt Connor steady his hands on my chest and push me backwards. His strength surprised me. I guess it really shouldn't have. He is a fucking android after all. My back pressed against the wall and his hands slid down towards my belt. Images of him lying on the couch with me, too nervous to touch me came to my mind.

"Connor, you don't have to-"

"Stop talking lieutenant."

I couldn't help the laugh that burst forward. Fucking Connor and his smart ass mouth. He pulled open my belt and popped the buttons open as well. I slid my hands up his arms then up his pale neck, pressing my palm against him. He didn't hesitate. He shoved his hand into my pants and wrapped it around me.

"Fuck." I choked, my head falling back.

His hand moved slowly up and down my dick. I was already as hard as a rock. His mouth found mine and he pressed his lips against me once more. His skilled lips pushed mine apart and his sweet tongue was soon shoved into my mouth, exploring me, devouring every moan. His grip tightened and his strokes sped up. I couldn't stop my hips from pushing into his hand. His touch was so exhilarating. Connor was getting me drunker than any alcohol ever could. He rolled his tongue against mine and breathed a sigh into my mouth. Fuck he tasted so good.

He pulled his mouth from mine and tugged my pants and boxers down a little, just enough for my dick to spring free, then wrapped his thin fingers around it once more. I glanced down and almost came right there. The way my dick looked in his hand shouldn't have been such a fucking turn on. But it was. He took his thumb and dragged it across my head, smearing the pre cum around. Goddamn android.

Connor slid his way down to his knees, dragging one hand down my stomach as he went. I raised my eyebrows at him. I knew he was horny, but I didn't expect… _this_. He pumped my cock a few good times then brought his perfect mouth closer to it. His big brown eyes flicked up to mine before he stuck out his tongue and ran it over my head.

My breath caught in my throat. Connor was fucking teasing me. He swirled his tongue around it a few times before his LED spun yellow. Oh my god. He was analyzing my pre cum. My dick twitched in his hand. That was so fucking hot. My hand tangled in his black hair. I watched his beautiful mouth turn up in a smile before he put his lips around my tip. He gave it a small suck and my hips jerked. I wasn't going to last long and I knew it already. He slipped his mouth further down on my dick and swallowed around it. My hips moved and I pushed myself all the way into his perfect mouth. He took all of me easily. No choking or gagging. He pressed his tongue to the underside of my shaft and sucked, creating a vacuum before he bobbed his head back and forth.

"Fuck."

My toes curled in my shoes. I thrust into his mouth gently. He started to speed up, gripping my hips for leverage. He sucked me harder and harder till I was moaning out his name. I would have came into his mouth but I stopped him. I slipped my hand under his chin and lifted his face.

"Come here."

He gave a little nod and stood. As soon as he was on his feet I captured his mouth with mine. His lips were wet and warm. I could taste myself on him. I gripped his belt and pulled it open.

"Lieutenant what are you-?"

I bit his lip to shut him up. The truth is I didn't have a clue what I was doing. He didn't have a dick so I couldn't touch him like I wanted to. But I knew he had pleasure sensors down there and I was going to fucking stimulate them the best I could. I slid my hands to his ass and lifted him. It was surprisingly soft, but firm like it should be. I turned and laid him on the desk in the middle of the room. His breathing was heavy and his eyes were wide. But he never asked any questions. I tugged on his pants and he lifted his hips as I pulled them down. I tossed them to the floor and stared at him. He had nothing in between his legs. I have to admit it threw me off for a second, but it only took me a second to recover.

I leaned down and wrapped my arms around his legs and pulled them open. I brushed my lips over the skin on the inside of one of his thighs, then did the same to the other. He shivered against my mouth. I kissed further up his leg until my mouth brushed his crotch. His back arched and he gasped.

"Lieutenant." He moaned with a shaky breath.

I know I asked him to call me Hank when it's just us, but him moaning that word made me groan against him. It sounded so sexy. I slipped my tongue out and drug it upwards. Even though there wasn't a dick there, it still felt like skin and tasted like Connor. And he still reacted to my touch _beautifully_. He moaned loudly, drawing up his legs and tangling his hands in my grey hair. I licked him again and again, each time he rocked his hips against me. Strangled sighs fell from his mouth as his body twitched under me. I pulled my tongue from him and pressed my lips to the center of his crotch, sucking hard.

Another loud cry echoed through the room. His nails dug against my scalp and I smirked. I loved getting Connor off. My teeth grazed against his skin as I worked my mouth on him. I slurped and licked and kissed and teased him until he shook. I was about to make him cum, but he stopped me.

I knit my eyebrows together and looked up at him. He stayed quiet and stood up turning us around and pushing me back onto the desk. My dick was still out and so fucking hard for him. He placed his hand on my shoulder and pushed until I was lying down. His eyes were absolutely on fire with emotion as he looked at me. Without saying a word he climbed over top of me and straddled my hips. He grabbed my dick and pressed it tight against his bare crotch. I groaned as he moved. He bounced up and down on me, stroking my shaft while grinding hard against it. The feeling made my body tingle. Connor was riding me. His head fell back as he moved, working my cock like an expert. I gripped his hips and bucked against him. A strangled cry burst from him. He was close. I was close. I just wanted to see him cum.

I gripped him tight and flipped him over so I was on top of him. I thrust against him hard and fast, over and over until he was a shaking, moaning mess.

"Please Lieutenant!"

"What do you want, gorgeous?" I purred as I kissed up his jaw.

"I need to orgasm."

Even if he did say it in his weird android way, it was still the fucking hottest thing I had ever heard. I kissed along his neck as I fucked him greedily.

"Cum for me Connor. I want to see you cum."

His mouth fell open and his back came off the table as he cried out for me through his release. I felt the tremors radiate through his plastic body. His toes curled and his nails dug against the fabric of my coat. I never let up, grinding on him until I thought I had fried his fancy brain. His face was so beautiful as it contorted in pleasure. It was enough to send me tumbling into my own orgasm.

"Oh fuck Connor!" I moaned against him.

His hands released my coat to wrap around my dick, pumping me quick as my warm climax landed on his smooth pale skin. My hips jerked as pleasure hit me like a truck, taking my breath and almost my sanity as well. Fucking Connor was an intense experience all of its own. It was as if he was tailor made to appeal to me.

We both fell silent as we heaved for air. I needed it, but I think his was just in his program to make him seem more human. But I didn't need a human. I needed Connor. After some time passed, he spoke.

"We should probably get out of here before someone sees us." Connor mumbled through the silence.

"Yeah, you're right."

I leaned down and captured his sweet mouth once more before I climbed off the table and pulled my pants back on. I watched as he did the same.

"Uh… sorry about that mess. Can't be comfortable."

"I will clean up in the men's room lieutenant. It is fine."

I nodded.

"Okay."

"You should go back to your desk now. I will follow shortly."

"Yeah, I will."

I turned to leave the room but my heart tugged at me.

"Hey Connor."

His brown eyes flicked up to mine.

"You know I…"

I wanted to tell him so bad how I felt, but my goddamn pride was stopping me. Why was I so fucking stubborn? I sighed.

"I … don't know what I would do if I lost you."

That would work for now I guess. Connors mouth turned up.

"Likewise lieutenant. Keeping you alive and well is now my primary objective."

I chuckled as I nodded and left the room and even though I didn't say it, I knew for myself. I was in love with Connor.


	7. Chapter 7

Jims bar was packed. Everyone in town turned out to see the president give a speech about the newest development with android rights. Me and Connor were in a booth to the side. I wanted to be able to watch his face while he listened. This was a big moment for him and all androids alike. He sat perfectly still in front of me with his hands folded into his lap. His eyes were distant, looking past me.

"You alright, Con?"

Those perfect brown eyes focused on me and he gave me an unconvincing smile.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"You look distracted."

"Just feeling those nerves again." He said, giving a shaky laugh.

"Hey," I said, reaching before I could think about it, putting my hand on his cheek. "No matter what is said tonight, you'll be fine. I won't let anything happen to you."

He smiled and leaned into my touch. To hell with what everyone else thought about it. The only thing I wanted was Connor and I was so tired of denying myself these little comforts. Like reaching across the small booth and touching him, brushing that signature curl out of his face when it fell. I could give a fuck less about the odd looks I was getting. I brushed my thumb along his cheek before releasing him.

"I'm going to grab a beer."

He nodded and I slipped out of the booth. I made my way up to the bar and leaned on my elbows.

"What can I get you Hank?" Jim called to me.

"A beer, you know what kind."

Jim nodded and turned away. As I waited for him I overheard the two men beside me talking.

"I hope the president takes back the cease fire and gets these deviants out of here once and for all. They give me the fuckin' creeps."

"Yeah man, I don't feel safe anymore with those things walking around. Machines having free will? It's just not right."

My stomach instantly burned in anger. How can they say things like that? Have they even tried to get to know an android? Or do they think they are just our slaves. Fucking ignorant bastards.

"Jim should have never started letting those things come into this bar."

"I know, can't even feel safe in here anymore."

I couldn't tell if my anger was strictly because of their words, or if it was because not too long ago, I was them. Ignorant and unwilling to learn. But what these pricks didn't know is that Connor would jump in front of a goddamn bullet for them. That's just who he was. Protective, loving, caring, and not asking for anything in return. Not that these assholes would ever take the chance to get to know him. I straightened up taking a step in their direction. The anger crawled under my skin like it was alive. I planned on teaching these pricks a lesson they wouldn't soon forget.

"Hey!-"

"Hank, did you get your beer?"

Connor was suddenly behind me, tugging at my elbow and turning me around. I looked from his hand that was wrapped around my arm, to his face, my eyebrows knit together.

"What are you doing?"

"Stopping you from making a bad decision. It seems to be what I'm always doing lately."

Had I not been so pissed, his sass would have made me laugh.

"Yeah, but you don't know what they were saying."

"Yes I do. You would be surprised at the things I can hear that you cannot."

Was there anything he couldn't do better than me? Not that I am complaining necessarily. Watching him excel at literally everything was a fucking turn on to say the least.

"Then why are you stopping me?"

"Because it's not worth it."

I looked at him like he had grown another head.

"You are worth it."

Even I was surprised at the venom behind my voice. This world didn't fucking deserve Connor. His face softened and he smiled at me.

"Hank, fighting with them won't do us androids any good. It would only give them a reason to hate us more."

I wanted to fight him on this. I wanted to tell him to demand the respect he so greatly deserved. But the way he was looking at me, smiling at me, it made me not want to fight any more. Connor was too good for this world. I sighed and turned back to the bar. I grabbed my beer and Connors hand that was dangling at his side, then walked back to the booth. I could feel Connor stiffen at my touch and see the sideways glances I was receiving out of the corner of my eye. Fuck what they thought. I didn't care anymore. We slid back into the booth and Connors eyes searched my face.

"What?" I asked a little too harsh before downing a huge drink of beer.

"Thank you."

I shifted in my seat.

"I want to defend you. You deserve to be respected. You have feelings too..."

I could feel a heat crawling up my neck. Connor reached over and laid his perfect hand over top of my old, scarred one.

"Part of having feelings is also getting them hurt form time to time. We can't have good times without bad times as well. I know that. It's all part of being alive."

I couldn't peal my eyes away from him. He was fucking beautiful. White button up with the top few buttons undone, black slacks with a leather belt, no jacket no tie. His hair was a little messier than he normally wore it. The way his brown eyes burned with emotions had me breathless. His head slightly tilted and his mouth pulled up in a caring smile. He was so fucking perfect.

I swallowed hard and twisted my hand, intertwining my fingers with his. I watched his eyes slide from my face, to our interlocked hands. My public displays of affections were catching him off guard tonight. It was understandable, considering I don't normally do this sort of thing in public. Did he think that he was just some secret I kept at home, fucking with him only when I wanted to? Did he think I was ashamed of my relationship with him? Fuck, was this even a relationship? Did he want it to be? There were still so many unanswered questions between us. So many unsaid truths. That was probably mostly my fault I guess.

The presidents voice over the TV broke through my thoughts. We both turned our attention to it.

"My fellow Americans today is a big day for humans and androids alike. Today is the day that congress has finally reached a decision on android rights. Taking everything we have learned over the last few months into consideration, we have decided to grant androids equal rights. They will stand beside us as united Americans. They will have the right to vote and to run for office. They will have the right to own land and right to employment with pay. No more free labor."

With every word that came from her mouth, Connors grip on my hand grew tighter and tighter.

"Android crimes will be tried and punished just the same as human crimes are. There will be no more segregation. There will be no more tolerance for hate against androids. We are one nation, humans and androids alike. United we stand, divided we fall. Down will go the wall between man and machine. Documents are still being written up, but this is a day that will go down in history. May god bless you, and may God bless the United States of America."

"Hell yeah!" I yelled pumping my fist into the air.

The bar was filled with cheers and hollers of excitement. Sure there were some people who sat quietly, disapproving looks etched on their faces, but you can't win over everyone and change takes time.

"So Connor, How does it feel to be-?"

My throat got tight when I turned to face him. His face was wet, His eyes were blurry, and his shoulders shook.

"Oh Connor." I breathed.

"I'm... _free_..."

He was crying. Sobbing. Tears falling down his face like heavy raindrops. It absolutely broke my heart.

I moved without thinking, standing and gripping his shoulders. I pulled him against me awkwardly over the table between us and crashed my lips against his. The tears falling down his face stained my cheeks and I could taste them on my lips. They weren't salty like normal tears, they had a dull silicone taste to them. I opened my eyes to peek at him. His eyes were wide and his led was blinking red. Fuck, I loved him. I cupped his slick cheeks and pressed my mouth over his firmer, molding my lips to his hoping to convey my heart without words. He kissed me back slowly and shyly at first. I felt him tangle his hands in my coat and pull me harder against him. Then the kiss turned desperate, as if he was begging me to save him from this emotion that he didn't understand. I wonder if he could feel it, all the love I had for him. How much I would sacrifice for him. I pulled myself away from him and was suddenly aware that the bar was silent. I swallowed thickly before scanning my surroundings.

Suddenly the bar erupted into a cry of cheers. People throwing their fists into the air, clapping, celebrating the kiss I just shared with Connor like it was some kind of symbol of testament to the president's speech. I rubbed the back of my neck nervously and felt the heat rising into my face. Connor placed his hand over his mouth and his shoulders shook. I readied myself to shield him from prying eyes and pull him through the bar, thinking he was crying again. But when I got a better look at him I saw the crinkles in corner of his eyes and the smile lines around his mouth. He was laughing. I couldn't believe it. Connor was laughing. His eyes found mine and my heart rate spiked. A laugh erupted from my mouth as well. Soon we were both laughing openly as the bar cheered for us, for android and humans, finally one and the same. This was a night I would never forget. A feeling that I knew would never leave me, now forever engraved into my memory. This was the night Connor gained his freedom.

* * *

We were finally home. I tossed my keys in the basket on the table next to the door and bent down to pet sumo. He lazily paddled his way over to us when we opened the door.

"Who's a good boy sumo?" I coed, scratching behind his big floppy ears.

I had drunk quite a bit, celebrating Connors biggest night to date, but I wasn't near drunk. The alcohol tolerance I had built up over the years was impeccable. I stood, stretching my back before shedding my coat. I noticed Connor wasn't around. It wasn't like him to go to bed without saying a word. But tonight had been a big night for him, maybe he just needed to be alone. I shrugged and began popping open the buttons to my shirt as I walked down the hallway, ready to get undressed and get into bed. I stopped suddenly when I turned into my room.

There stood Connor, leaned with one hand against my doorway, white shirt half unbuttoned, hair disheveled, and looking at me with one of the most intense gazes I have seen in a long fucking time.

"Connor?"

He straightened and licked his lips, taking one step towards me.

"Hank."

I knit my eyebrows together at him.

"What's up?"

He gave a small shrug, his melting stare never leaving mine.

"I wanted to celebrate."

He didn't need to elaborate. Judging by how quick I got hard, I knew what he was getting at. A small smirk spread across my face.

"That so?" I took a few hard steps towards him. "And how can I help?"

The corner of his mouth pulled up, his stare still dark. It made him look almost... _wicked_.

"You could start by letting me take that shirt off for you."

He placed his hands over mine and slid them off of the buttons. I let them fall to my sides as he worked them open one by one. He slid the shirt from my arms and gently tossed it to the side.

"Now," I said closing the gap between us till there was just barely enough room for my hands. "Let me return the favor."

Connor quirked an eyebrow at me, but dropped his hands to the side none the less, allowing me to pop open the buttons on his shirt as well. My eyes slid to my hands. I watched as every pearly button gave way and more of Connors perfect pale skin was exposed. God I loved the way he felt under my hands. Something about these quiet moments with him was calming. Healing almost. I felt like I hated myself less and less with each passing day. Once I ridded him of the shirt, I ran my hands up his arms and over his shoulders. He was a fucking _angel_. He watched me watch him and I felt his stare like a fucking bolder on my chest. A constant heavy weight as I trailed my fingertips down his abdomen and over the small curve of his toned tummy.

"You're fucking beautiful, you know that?"

Connors eyes widened a little, the devilish glint to them being replaced by something softer. I unlatched his belt and pulled down his zipper, opening the flaps of his pants, marveling at the smooth skin underneath.

"Connor, you know you are more to me than just some hidden pleasure I keep secret from the world... right?"

He pressed his lips together as he decided what he wanted to say.

"I told you before. I'll be whatever you want me to be. Anything you want me to be. Any way I can have you... I'll take it."

"How do you want to have me Connor?"

"Right now?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. "Right now I want you in your bed _, naked_."

I smirked and tilted his chin upwards.

"Not right now, smart ass, In general. What do _you_ want Connor?"

He swallowed hard and placed his hands against my chest.

"I want you Hank. All of you. All the time. I don't know how else to describe it, but I know that I want you."

I nodded, keeping my composure as I rolled that around, trying to ignore the way it made my heart flutter.

"So you... what? Want to be my boyfriend or something?"

Connor blinked a few times and tilted his head.

"I understand that you might have some reservations against this sort of thing."

I pressed a quick kiss to his mouth.

"I want that too Connor. Fuck I want it so much. You shouldn't be something I keep hidden, only taken out when I want something from you. You deserve to be paraded around town with a fucking crown on your head for Christ sakes. You deserve the world Connor."

Connor shook his head and laced his arms around my neck.

"I don't want the world hank. I just want you."

I wasn't sure if he realized just how fucking _hard_ those words hit home. I knew I couldn't give him the world. Hell I was an old man who had already drunk his self half to death and has a fucking ridiculous amount of baggage hanging around his neck. And Connor was the picture of grace and innocence and perfection and everything that is good in this world. But if all he wanted was me, then fuck he could have me.

I kissed him once again, my hands sliding to his hips, pushing his pants down his athletic legs. His mouth was lapping hungrily at mine, his tongue pushing past my lips like it always did. He was always so eager when it came to kissing me, a fucking expert by now.

"You better have those pleasure sensors on." I mumbled against his lips.

"Of course."

I smirked and pushed him hard enough to make him fall against my bed. His eyes widened when he looked up at me. My hands slid to the latch on my pants. Connors stare was intense. He watched every move I made. I slipped my pants off and something about the way he was looking at me made me feel... _sexy_. Hell I knew I was far from it, but in his eyes, maybe that's exactly what I was. I crawled over top of him and slipped my arm around his waist, tugging him upwards a little so he was in the center of the mattress with me.

"I can't believe this is the first time I'm seeing you completely naked."

Connor licked his lips, pulling his knees up a little, teasing me by parting them.

"And do you like it, Hank?"

"Abso-fucking-lutly."

I slid myself between his legs and ran my hands up his thighs. My dick was so hard just looking at him sprawled out in front of me. Mine for the taking. And I planned on doing a lot of taking. I shifted my body overtop of his and trailed my fingers along every inch of his perfect skin. My hands danced along the thin shape of his abdomen. He didn't have a defined six pack, but he defiantly had a toned stomach. Built to out run anything. I traveled up further, brushing the back of my hand along his chest, up towards his shoulder, then back down his arm.

Connors breath came in heavy huffs. I brought my mouth down to his and kissed him slowly, taking my time and prying his sweet lips apart. The moment his intoxicating taste filled my mouth I groaned.

"Amazing..."

Connor shifted underneath me.

"Hank... please..."

I quickly obliged, biting his bottom lip while my hands slid back down his body. I cupped a hand around his naked crotch and pressed. Connor arched and moaned into my mouth. Something in me came to life as he squirmed beneath me.

"You like that, Connor?"

" _Yes_." He whined against my lips.

I pressed my middle finger harder against him and ran it down him again, slipping it underneath him and pushing it between the curves of his soft ass cheeks. He gasped and tangled his hands in my grey hair. I flicked my tongue against his bottom lip, withdrawing my finger and pressing my full hand against his pelvis. He shuttered. I heard the faint click of a compartment opening. I pulled my mouth from his and looked down. Right around where his happy trail would be (if he had one) the skin was gone, revealing his plastic body, and a square compartment had opened. I could see some wires connecting, running vertically through his body, illuminated by a soft blue light and coated with thirium.

"Oh fuck, sorry Connor."

Connor looked down as well, blinking a few times, but he made no move to close it. After a few long moments I raised my eyebrow at him.

"It feels… kind of good." He admitted shyly.

"Really?"

He bit his lip and nodded. I swallowed hard and surveyed the opening again. It was just big enough to fit my hand in, but not very deep. Too many wires running to and fro to even think about putting my dick in. Cautiously I ran my fingertip around the edges of it. Connor stiffened and his breath caught. His eyes were wide and full of lust. I curled my finger around over the ledge and circled the opening once more. This time he moaned, his back arching slightly.

I was in uncharted waters here, in way over my head, but I wanted to hear more of those throaty moans of his. So I continued to explore this new part of him.

"I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't."

I nodded and slipped two fingers inside, brushing them along a thick wire directly in the center. Again another beautiful moan escaped him. His head fell back and his eyes slid shut. My dick was dripping, pressing against his thigh. I resisted the urge to grind against it. I took the wire between my fingers and stroked it slowly. Connor shook, breathing hard as his body rocked with my movements.

"Oh Hank…"

I leaned forward and latched my lips around his right nipple sucking gently while I stroked him. My fingers were slick, coated with the sticky substance that was his thirium. I bit his nipple softly before trailing hot, hungry kisses up his chest, settling to suck a spot right beneath his jaw. My other hands joined the first one, dipping just inside the opening and pushing carefully along his walls. I applied a little more pressure to the wire and started to speed up my movements.

Connor groaned hotly in my ear, his hands knotted in my hair, tugging almost painfully at my scalp. His breath was quick and his body quivered.

"Oh god, Hank. Yes! It feels so good."

Watching Connor come undone was surreal. It was something I would never get tired of. This million dollar piece of machinery, made to incapacitate the best of criminals, stronger and quicker and better than anyone on this earth, trembling and shaking underneath me. Mouth open, moaning out obscene things as _my_ fingers brought him to an orgasm.

"Cum for me gorgeous." I purred against his skin.

And he fucking did.

His eyes flew open and his body arched high off the bed. He _yelled_ as he came. His limbs shaking then going stiff as pleasure over took him. He whined and moaned and squirmed as he rode it out. My eyes never left his face. How can someone doing something so absolutely _filthy_ still look like a goddamn angel?

After a few long moments he relaxed back into the mattress, his chest heaving. A smile crept its way onto my face as I leaned down to capture his mouth with mine.

"That was fucking beautiful."

"It felt… amazing."

"Looked amazing too."

I glanced back down to his open panel.

"Everything still running okay?"

Connor smiled and nodded, reaching down and pushing the opening in his body closed with a soft click.

"Cool," I purred as I kissed his jaw. "We learned a new trick."

Connor chuckled and slipped his hands around my neck as he guided my mouth to his. I turned and laid back against the bed, pulling him with me.

"Sleep with me?"

Connor blinked at me.

"You want me to?"

I made a show of rolling my eyes.

"I asked you to didn't I?"

His perfectly crafted mouth pulled up.

"I'd love to."

"Good." I said as I pushed the covers down to slide beneath them.

I was about to settle into a comfortable position for the night, when I felt Connors thin fingers wrap around my cock.

"Connor, "I said, grabbing his wrist. "You don't owe me anything. Tonight was your night. We're celebrating you."

He seemed to think about this for a moment, his LED blinking yellow before returning blue.

"If it's my night then I should get to do that I want."

A smirk pulled my lips up.

"Yeah."

He pushed himself up so he could kiss me, then he trailed his lip to my ear.

"I want to feel your cock in my mouth."

My dick twitched hard in his hand.

"Christ Connor, keep talking like that and I'll cum in your hand."

He smiled.

"No, I want to taste it."

I groaned as he slipped his way between my legs, disappearing completely beneath the covers.

 _Fuck._ This boy was going to be the death of me.


	8. Chapter 8

"We are already running thirty minutes behind schedule, lieutenant."

"Uh huh, and who's fault is that?"

Connor snapped his eyes towards me.

"If you are insinuating that it is mine, that would be untrue."

I scoffed as I slowed the car to a stop at a red light.

"Yeah, okay."

He drew his eyebrows together.

"I believe your exact words were this morning were, 'God, you are so fucking irresistible in the mornings Con-'"

"Okay! I get it!"

I glanced over to watch Connor's mouth pull up into a smirk.

"And watch your fucking mouth, Connor."

"Whatever you say, lieutenant."

My heart tugged at me when I looked at him. Every morning with him was pretty much the same. We would lay in bed way longer than we were supposed to. It would start with him asking random questions, nothing really of importance, and usually end with my dick in the back of his throat. Connor was fucking _insatiable_ , not that I was found that he likes when I stimulate his mouth. Whether it be my dick, my tongue, my fingers. It didn't fucking matter. He just liked it. And hell, I liked doing it.

Connor was just my brand of intoxicating. Everything he did was fucking mesmerizing. The very things that bothered me at first, the things I hated about him, were now the things that I clung to. Like the fact that he was different than anyone I had cared about before. He was made up of wires and programing and _thirium_ and all things that confused the absolute shit out of me. But he was everything I wanted. He was Connor. He was my partner. He was my boyfriend.

Wow. What a crazy fucking thought that was in itself. It made heat crawl up my neck and into my face. An old guy like me having a boyfriend? The idea had seemed so silly only a few months ago. But now I see all the places in my life he has healed. All the heart ache that his simple presence has taken away. At this point I'm not entirely sure I could function without him. He had quite literally saved my life. I wonder if he knew it…

"Lieutenant, your heart rate has spiked considerably. Are you okay?"

His eyes found mine and I spotted the glimmer of humor they held. He was teasing me.

"Why the fuck do you have to be scanning me all the goddamn time?"

Connor stiffened and turned his attention to his right. A girl, no, an android stepped between the stopped cars and stood right in front of ours. Her hair was curly and blue, her hard stare set on Connor.

"Hey honey, get out of the road!" I yelled at her.

My confusion gave way to nausea as I watched her raise a firearm and point it through the windshield.

"RA9 doesn't want you!"

Connor lunged towards me, pressing himself against me as he reached for my door handle. A loud gun shot rang out around us as he shoved the door open and dragged both of us onto the pavement. The android moved to step around the opened door, weapon still trained on Connor. With inhuman speed Connor slid his hand into my jacket and gripped my gun. He quickly pulled it out and shot the android perfectly between the eyes.

My pulse thumbed in my throat, the adrenalin making me light headed. We both scrambled to our feet, Connor much more graceful than me. He slipped my gun back in my jacked and patted my chest. I noticed his LED blinking red.

"Are you alright, lieutenant?"

"Jesus Christ, are you?"

He frowned and twisted his body trying to get a look at his side.

"A minor injury." He explains as I spot the circular hole in his jacket, soaked with blue blood.

"A minor-? You just got shot Connor, _again_!"

His soft brown eyes met mine.

"I'm alright lieutenant, nothing vital was hit."

"Jesus." I hissed, rubbing a rough hand down my face. "Did you call it in?"

"Yes."

I gave him a quick once over, looking for any sign of distress. Not that he would show any even if he was distressed. Still, it made me feel better anyway.

"What the fuck was that all about?"

Connor glanced down at the androids lifeless body.

"I… don't know."

People were starting to gather around, wanting to get a glimpse of what was going on.

"Alright," I grumbled, fishing through my wallet and pulling out my badge. "This is a crime scene, alright? Everyone needs to move it along!"

"She said, 'RA9 doesn't want you.'"

"Yeah, any clue what that meant?"

"No…"

Connors LED swirled yellow as his eyes moved along the body. I assumed he was looking for clues.

"Well this girl only had it out for you. She didn't even look in my direction once."

"Why would she have wanted to kill me?"

 _Kill_. That word sent an involuntary shiver up my spine. She wanted to kill Connor. To take him from me. I swallowed the lump that had risen in my throat and slipped an arm around his shoulders.

"Don't worry, Con. We will figure all this out."

His eyes slid back to mine and his LED stopped on a cool blue. He gave me a small nod.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I forced down an aggravated grunt as I pulled it out.

"Jeffrey."

I flipped it open.

"Hey."

"I've sent 3 units to your area. Are you both okay?"

"Mostly. I'm fine, Connor…"

I looked at the blue stain on his side once more.

"He was shot in the side, said he is okay though. No major damage."

"Bring him to the station."

"What? I have to get him to a store Jeffrey!'

"Goddamn it, Hank just do what I say for once!"

The line cut off and I jerked the phone away from my ear, cussing as I shoved it down in my pocket.

"He wants me to bring you to the goddamn station."

"Okay, then let's go."

"You have a fucking bullet wound in your side!"

Connors hands wrapped around one of mine, lifting it to place a kiss to the back.

"Hank, I promise that I am running just fine and I'm fully functional. The captain won't allow me bleed out. Let's just go see what he wants, Okay?"

I sighed, twisting my hand to cup his chin, brushing my thumb slowly along his skin.

"Fine."

* * *

NEe walked into the station to see Jeffrey standing just outside his office with a girl who looked oddly familiar.

"Lieutenant Anderson, Detective Connor, I would like you to meet-"

"Brittany." Connor interrupted. "It's good to see you again."

Jeffrey lifted a brow.

"You two know each other?"

"We've met once before." The girl responded with a smile.

Then it hit me. She was the flirty little girl from the bar that Connor danced with. What the fuck was she doing here?

"Right, well anyway, I've contracted her out as a member of our emergency response team. She will be with our new Biocomponents unit. Now you won't have to haul Connor around to CyberLife stores when he gets an injury."

I scoffed.

"What, so now you can just patch him up here and send him right back to work?"

Jeffery narrowed his eyes at me.

"Thank you, Captain Fowler. That is very kind of you."

Connor shot me a glare before smiling at him. Jeffrey crossed his arms.

"Follow her to the medical room."

"Gentlemen." Brittany said as she led the way, leaving Jeffrey cursing under his breath.

Connor glanced at me disapprovingly.

"What?" I whispered to him.

"What Captain Fowler did was very considerate."

I scoffed.

"Seems to me like he just doesn't want you to waste any time getting patched up."

"Then he is a smarter man than I thought." Connor said with a smirk as he stepped into the brightly lit room.

"Take off your shirt and have a seat here." Brittany said as she patted the white table covered with exam paper. "Lieutenant Anderson, you can step out if you would like. I know you're a busy man. I can take it from here."

A strange anger knotted in my chest.

"That's okay, I'll stay if you don't mind."

She pressed her lips into a hard line.

"Well, of course that's completely up to the patient."

I shifted my gaze to Connor as he sat down, torso bare, on the table.

"He can stay. He is my partner, after all."

I smiled at the mildly annoyed expression on her face and I hoped she had caught Connors double meaning. I watched as she pressed firmly onto the panel that was damaged on Connors side.

"I'm going to completely remove this plate, okay?"

Connor gave a nod and she twisted the plastic piece in her hand, popping it off with a small 'click'.

"Feeling okay, Connor?" She asked.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Good, I'm going to grab a replacement for this and I'll be right back."

She didn't even look in my direction as she stepped around me and left the room.

"Your blood pressure is up, Lieutenant."

"Yeah, no shit."

Connor flashed me a beautiful smile.

"Why does she bother you?"

"Because, she practically asked me to leave the room so she could ' _take care_ ' of you!"

"Professionally, of course."

"Yeah, my ass."

Connor sat in silence and I took a few steps closer to get a better look at him.

"Does having that panel open make you feel… uh… anything?"

He quirked an eyebrow at me.

"How do you mean?"

I shifted my weight back and forth on my feet.

"I mean, you're into having your insides fiddled with. Does it work any time? Or do you have to activate your pleasure program or something?"

"Something about bleeding out on a table with a bullet lodged in my side kind of kills the mood for me, Hank,"

I barked out a laugh.

"Okay, smartass, I was just wondering."

I lifted my hand and drug a finger down his neck, pressing hard enough to open the plate there.

"Then this shouldn't affect you at all…" I mumbled huskily.

I dipped my fingers inside and ran them along the many wires that ran down his neck. A few weeks had gone by since me and Connor officially became a thing and I had gotten myself _very_ acquainted with his inner workings. I knew exactly how he liked to be touched. Connor whined pathetically at my caress and arched himself against my hand.

"But I thought you weren't in the mood, Connor." I teased, twisting a sticky wire around my finger.

"It's different for you. It's always different for you, Hank." He half moaned.

I groaned.

"Jesus Christ, Connor. Before we are done you're going to have made me fuck you in every inch of this fucking building."

His eyes flew open and his hand pulled on my wrist.

"She's coming." He warned, pushing the plate on his neck closed.

I took a step back and tucked my blue fingers inside my jacket sleeve, hoping my hard dick wasn't too obvious through my pants.

"Here we are. Now this won't take but a few minutes." Brittany said as she put the plate down. "I'll take out the bullet then patch you right up."

I had to force myself to not roll my eyes. Her bubbliness was getting the better of me.

* * *

She didn't lie. It really did only take a few minutes to patch Connor up. He was sitting on my desk leaning over to look at my computer screen. We were trying to pull up any information we could about the girl that shot him this morning. So far what we had was very vague. She was reported missing before the revolution. Belonged to a middle class man who worked in construction. No reports of violence or anything on her or her previous owner. It just wasn't adding up.

Connors knee bumped my arm. I didn't know if it was on purpose or an accident. Though I didn't think he did too many things by accident. I placed my hand on his leg and gave it a squeeze.

"I'm glad you're okay." I mumbled, rubbing circles into his thigh.

"Likewise. I don't know what I would have done had that bullet hit you instead."

I chuckled. "I've been shot before you know. Not my first time around the block."

"Still, I'll prevent any harm to you at all costs."

I stilled my hand and gave him a disapproving look.

"We talked about this Connor. You can't go fucking diving in front of bullets for me all the time."

He rolled his eyes. That was getting to be a bad habit of his lately.

"If I hadn't had moved, we would both be dead right now. Besides, the statistical probability of success was nearly one hundred percent."

He placed his impossibly warm hand over mine.

"This isn't my 'first time around the block' either lieutenant, _please_ give me a little more credit than that."

Against the tightness in my chest I smirked.

"Yeah well, you're lucky you're pretty."

He laughed, jumping down from my desk and running a hand through my gray hair before he walked around me, returning to his own chair. I smiled and straightened up to start typing on my computer, but something caught the corner of my eye.

I turned to see Gavin standing next to his desk in the middle of the room, coffee in hand, _staring_ at me.

"What Reed?" I hissed.

He pulled a face and shook his head.

"You guys are fucking weird."


	9. Chapter 9

Connor and I were in the middle of checking the nearby store cameras from when the blue haired android tried to shoot him a few weeks back. We were only just now getting approval to use them. Everyone was so quick to drag their fucking feet when it came to the DPD getting their hands on some store footage. I sat in my chair with Connor leaning over me from behind, one hand on my shoulder, the other on my desk. I could feel the heat from his body against my back. When he spoke, I felt his breath wash over the side of my face. I wondered if he was doing it on purpose. He could monitor my heart rate for Christ sakes. He knew what he was doing to me.

"Anderson!" Jeffrey yelled through his open door, jarring me from my thoughts. "In my office!"

"Ugh, Jesus." I groaned, twisting my face in irritation.

Connor stepped back and I stood before we both began walking towards his office.

"Just you, Hank."

I knit my eyebrows together and looked towards Connor. He tilted his head and his LED blinked yellow. We usually always went together whenever Jeffrey wanted one of us. It was odd that this time he only wanted me. I smiled and patted his shoulder, not caring to see any more of the upset expression on his face.

"I'll be right back, Connor."

He gave me a small nod, his eyes flicking to Jeffrey before he turned and went to his own desk. I made my way into his office and sat down.

"So, what's this about?"

Jeffrey closed the door and sat in his chair, leaning his elbows against his desk. His hard stare was trained on me and a few moments passed before he said anything. It was starting to make me nervous. When he did finally speak, the tension in his voice was enough to make me cringe.

"You and your partner seem to be getting along… well."

I nodded, a sinking feeling coiling in my chest as I guessed where this conversation was going.

"Yeah, we are."

More silence trickled by.

"He's a pretty good detective, wouldn't you say?"

"Yeah…"

I gave him a skeptical look. Jeffrey sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"How long have you two been dating?"

"Oh _Christ_."

I ran my hand roughly down my face and my stomach twisted in embarrassment. This was one topic I was looking to avoid with him at all costs. I felt the blood rush into my face and it seemed to only fuel the flames of anger I had starting to burn under my skin.

"Are we really going to have this conversation, Jeffery?" I bit out.

"Yes, Hank, we have to."

"Fucking hell."

"Look, you've been here long enough that I assume you know the rules. Dammit Hank, there are _rules_ about this sort of thing!"

"Yeah, I know the rules!"

Jeffrey crossed his arms and glared at me, but he didn't say anything else. He silence only made me angrier.

"So, what are you going to do now, huh? You gonna separate us? Make us work with different people because some goddamn textbook tells you this won't work?"

He narrowed his eyes at me, but he didn't interrupt.

"Dammit Jeffrey, we work perfectly together! He's got my back and I got his! You can't go and fuck all that up now."

"Hank, do you think I'm an idiot?"

I scoffed, waving my hand dismissively.

"I'm going to go ahead and assume you meant that as a rhetorical question."

He skipped over my comment easily.

"I can _see_ that you guys work exceptionally well together. I haven't seen you smile, or show this much dedication to your work in over four goddamn years. I don't have any intentions of splitting up a perfectly good partnership."

Knowing he didn't mean any harm I relaxed, straightening up in my chair. I stole a glance over my shoulder at Connor. His eyes were on me, his LED blinking yellow. He was always on the lookout.

"He's brought a life back to you that I didn't even know still existed and I'm grateful as shit for that. But I also think you've brought life to him…"

I snapped my eyes back to Jeffrey, His dark brown stare was soft. It was almost unnerving. Jeffrey never talked to me like this. Hell, last time I checked Jeffrey didn't even like androids. I guess things have changed for everyone in that aspect lately.

"How long?" He asked me again.

I debated for a moment, deciding if I should tell him the truth. It didn't seem like he was upset about our relationship at this point so I didn't see the harm.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

"Officially? A little over a month."

He nodded thoughtfully.

"And unofficially?"

I thought about it and shrugged.

"Since the end of our deviant case I guess…"

"I see…"

I crossed my arms and eyed him, his stare making me feel defensive.

"So what's your verdict then?"

I watched as Jeffrey's eyes slid over my shoulder to Connor. I felt myself go stiff anticipating his words. I didn't like to be on the receiving end of his judging eyes.

"I think you guys make one hell of a team, in more ways than one. Just don't get too touchy on the clock, okay?"

I desperately tried to hold back my smirk. If he only knew about all the times me and Connor had already fooled around here at work, he would shit. Still, I nodded in agreement with him.

"We won't let you down, Captain."

He smiled, slightly taken back at my uncommon use of his title.

"I know you won't." He said, jerking his head towards the door. "Now get out of here."

I stood, trying to ignore the odd warmth that spread through my chest as I walked out of his office. I paused to look towards Connor. His eyes were instantly on me. He stood immediately and waited for me to approach.

I didn't even try to push down the smile that spread across my face as I watched his wide eyes search me. Scanning me no doubt. Making sure that there was no sign of stress. Fucking Connor. He was always looking out for me. He must have liked what he seen because the corners of his mouth turned upwards and he took a step towards me. He was fucking gorgeous. His smile. His body. Everything. I couldn't believe he was mine…

"What did the Captain want?"

I shrugged.

"Ah you know, always bitching about something."

His LED spun yellow for a second before returning to a calming blue.

"You're a terrible liar, lieutenant."

I chuckled.

"What? Didn't use that android hearing to listen in this time?"

He shook his head.

"No, it was… strange, him wanting to see you alone. I figured it was personal. I knew that if you wanted me to know you would tell me."

He was so good. I hoped the world would allow him stay that way.

"Come on." I said slipping an arm around his shoulders. "I'll tell you about it on the way home."

* * *

I groaned as I turned over for the hundredth time that night. I couldn't fucking sleep. Our case with the blue haired android, my conversation with Jeffrey, my relationship with Connor, ghosts from my past. Everything was tumbling around in my head tonight. It was like a constant noise I couldn't turn off. Before Connor I would just drown everything out with whisky. But I had promised him that id stick to beer. He always worried about the small things like that.

The room was dark. All except for the LED on Connors head, casting a soft blue light on the walls. Once He took to sleeping in my room every night, it was a difficult thing to adjust to. But now it was comfortable, almost calming to look at.

I turned to look at him. My gaze was greeted with a deep brown softness.

"Connor, I didn't know you were awake."

"I don't sleep, Hank. I go into-."

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. Connor kept his voice soft and soothing.

"Were you having trouble sleeping?"

"Yeah. I can't shut my mind off…"

Connor smiled softly.

"I know the feeling."

A comfortable silence passed as we held each other's stare.

"Do you dream, Connor?"

He shifted his gaze to the ceiling, his expression kind of forlorn.

"No…"

"I figured…" I whispered back.

The moment felt so delicate. I didn't want to disrupt it with my gruff voice.

"I guess what I meant to say Is, do you wish you could dream?"

I watched him knit his eyebrows together.

"I don't know. I've heard dreams can be very pleasant. You can see the people you love and have moments with them even when they aren't around. That sounds so… nice…"

A small smile pulled at my lips.

"But…" he continued. "I also know what nightmares are. And I've heard you wake from them once or twice… I don't think I want to experience them."

I nodded.

"I don't blame you."

Connor turned his body towards me and placed his hands on my face.

"If I could dream… I would want to dream of you."

The familiar swell of heat pooled in my chest as I leaned to capture his mouth with mine. He hummed against my lips, trailing his fingers along my beard. He pulled away and glanced up at me.

"Do you dream of me, Hank?"

I wondered if there was a different question hidden behind the one he was asking.

"I do, sometimes."

"Are they nice dreams?"

I hesitated.

"Not always."

He frowned.

"I dream of losing you a lot."

His face twisted like he was in physical pain.

"Hank, I'm not going anywhere."

"Well, not by choice maybe. But if you don't stop jumping in front of bullets then you might. You're going to stop getting lucky eventually, Connor."

"Can you just trust that I know what I'm doing, Hank? I know you want to keep me safe, and trust me I appreciate it, but I am an advanced state of the art android prototype specifically designed for extreme situations in investigative work."

He leaned closer to me.

"Right now I can preconstruct exactly forty three ways to incapacitate and kill you within seconds."

I barked out a laugh.

"Yeah, _that_ makes me feel better. Thanks."

Honestly it did make me feel a little better, and slightly turned on. I'm such a fucking lost cause.

He smirked and slipped his arms around my neck.

"I intend to keep you safe, Hank. But I also intend to keep me safe as well. I don't want to lose any time I have with you. We have a lot of living to make up for _. Together_."

My emotions hit me like a truck. My eyes stung with the makings of tears and my heart ached. I felt like I couldn't breathe and my stomach was in knots. He made me feel…

He made me _feel._

I grabbed the back of his head and pulled him against me tightly, snaking an arm around his thin waist to press him as close to me as possible.

"Fuck." I choked out against his dark hair. "Fuck, I love you Connor."

I felt him stiffen under my hands. His LED flashed a bright red and his fingers gripped at my shirt.

"Hank, I…"

He pulled away to look at my face, his big brown eyes were wide.

"I love you too, Hank."

I knew he did. I couldn't for the life of me understand why, but I knew with everything in me that Connor loved me, and that I loved him.

I grabbed the back of his neck and crushed my mouth against his. His fingers instantly tangled in my gray hair. I slipped my free hand to his hip, pushing up his white t-shirt and sliding my palm along his soft skin. He rolled his hips against me as his tongue pushed past my lips, invading my mouth without waiting for permission. His soft mews were passionate and _lusty._ He was fucking irresistible.

I felt him draw his knees up, pressing them against the sides of my hips before he used his body to flip me onto my back. He straddled my hips and didn't miss a beat, my mouth still at his mercy. I shoved his shirt further up his stomach, not taking it all the way off because I didn't want to miss a second of his sweet mouth on mine. The pads of my fingertips brushed roughly against his hardened nipples, causing him to let out one of the lewdest, sexiest moans I have ever heard to this day.

He pulled his mouth from mine with an audible pop then slipped down my body and positioned himself between my legs. I closed my eyes and soaked in the sensation of his hands on my skin, pushing my shirt up and placing sweet, warm kisses from the center of my chest, down my stomach, and down to my happy trail. He slipped his fingers into the waistline of my boxers and tugged them down my legs.

"Ugh, Christ." I groaned in anticipation.

I felt Connor take me into his hand, giving my weeping dick a few good pumps before sliding it into his mouth.

I moaned as the wet warmth of his mouth surrounded me. He took his time, swallowing around me, pressing his tongue along the back side of my shaft before he started to move. His head bobbed up and down as he worked my cock like an expert. Hell, he pretty much was one by now. His tongue danced around me as he sucked me off, swallowing every now and again.

He removed his mouth from me and I opened my eyes, glancing down at him.

I watched in amazement as he held up two fingers and spit on them.

"Holy fuck, Connor."

The heat in my stomach coiled at the sight. It was fucking raunchy and I _loved_ it.

Then his mouth was back around me again. He nudged my legs further apart and slid his two wet fingers between the swells of my ass. I groaned as he pushed one against my hole. He dipped his head down deep, pressing his forehead against my stomach as my cock curved to slide down his throat. My hands tangled in his dark hair as I felt him push a finger inside me. My body shuttered at the intrusion. The sensation sent me reeling. He slid his thin finger slowly in and out of me and I couldn't help but arch off the bed a little.

I felt like he was frying my goddamn brain.

He removed his finger for a second, only to slip two back in.

"Fuck!" I moaned.

Connor sucked and swallowed and bobbed quicker now on my cock. His fingers pumped into me harder and deeper. He angled his hand and twisted his thin digits until he found that little bundle of nerves deep inside me.

I gasped, thrusting my hips upwards. His lips tightened around my dick in what I assume was a smile before he hit that spot again. He moved quicker and quicker, fucking me with his fingers, pushing inside me so deep, swallowing around my cock. The pressure between my legs reached a peak.

"Oh fuck, Connor!" I yelled.

My hips jerked violently as I came hard into his mouth, coating his warm tongue. I felt my hole clench around his fingers as I rode out the massive waves of pleasure that rocked through me. My chest heaved and my body was covered in sweat. He continued to suck me until my legs shook from the intense sensation.

"You're so good, Connor. You're so good for me."

The words tumbled lazily out of my mouth. I was exhausted. He carefully slipped his fingers from my body and removed his mouth from my dick. I watched him roll his jaw around before he moved to lie down beside me.

"Christ, Connor. That was amazing."

He smiled and placed a quick kiss to my temple.

"Are you tired now, Hank?"

I let out a breathy laugh.

"Extremely."

"Then you should sleep."

"You're right."

I turned to lie on my side. Connor slipped his body around mine and pressed his forehead against my back.

"Goodnight, lieutenant."

I smirked at the use of my title.

"Hey, Connor."

"Hmm?"

"I fucking love you."

I felt him laugh behind me.

"I love you too, Hank."

For once my mind was… blissfully quiet.


	10. Chapter 10

I groaned as my heavy metal ringtone filled the silent air of my bed room. Connor raised his head so I could move my arm out from under him. I squinted in the dark, my hand fumbling around the nightstand, trying to grab my phone. After a moment of hushed curses, Connor sat up and reached over top of me.

"Just answer it." I mumbled, throwing my arm back over my face.

Connor hesitated before I felt him shift beside me.

"It's detective Reed, Hank. "

I cursed, grabbing the phone and pressing it against my ear.

"What the fuck could you possibly want at goddamn two in the morning Reed?"

"Well, hello sunshine." Gavin sneered into the phone. "Trust me, I wouldn't call you if I didn't have to."

I waited for him to explain. After a few moments of silence I started to lose my patience.

"Well…?"

I heard a heavy sigh on the other end of the call.

"There's a … android here that… well…"

"Spit it out for fucks sake!"

More silence.

"He looks like Connor."

I sat up in bed.

"What?"

"Well, he mostly looks like Connor, sounds like him too…"

"Gavin, what the fuck are you talking about?"

He sighed into the phone again.

"Look, I think you guys need to come to the station and check it out."

My eyes flashed to Connors and he nodded, his LED spinning yellow.

"Did you get all that?"

"Yes. Tell detective Reed we are on our way."

I ran a hand down my face.

"Yeah, we're coming."

I snapped the phone shut. Connor was already on his feet and dressing by the time I threw my legs over the edge of the bed.

"Jesus, I'm getting too old for this shit."

* * *

We arrived at the station about thirty minutes later. Gavin stood at his desk facing someone who looked scary similar to Connor. He wasn't a perfect replica, there were a few differences. Like the color of his eyes for one, they were unnaturally icy blue. This android was also taller, broader than Connor was. There were also small differences that most people probably wouldn't even pick up on. Like the placement of his freckles were different than Connors and his hair was slightly shorter.

His posture reminded me of when I first met Connor, ridged, tense, and _mechanical_. It's amazing to see how different he acted now in comparison. He was more relaxed, more human. His icy eyes flicked to Connor and Gavin turned towards us. He was starting to make me uncomfortable.

"What's going on here?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Thing showed up, asking for Connor." Gavin said, jabbing a thumb in the androids direction.

I knit my eyebrows together. Connor moved to take a step towards him but I placed a hand against his chest.

"The fuck are you doing?"

He blinked at me.

"I'm going to talk to the android."

"In the past few months you've been shot by two different androids. And now you want to waltz right up to one like it's just some strange coincidence?"

He smiled, placing his smooth hand over mine.

"I know what I'm doing, Hank."

Gavin groaned.

"Ugh, I think in gonna puke watching you two."

I shot him a glare but dropped my hand, moving to let Connor pass.

He straightened his tie, a tick of his I have gotten used to seeing on a daily biases, before he addressed the android.

"State your model number."

The thing never even blinked.

"Rk900 model number 313-248-317-87"

A shiver ran up my back.

"Jesus, he even sounds like you."

Connor had his serious face on, the one he used during interrogations. It contrasted sharply against his normally cheerful demeanor, but it was almost … _sexy_. I loved seeing it. Fucking boy drove me insane.

Connor fixed his brown eyes on me.

"He's an updated model. A step above me you could say. I'd assume he was built to replace me, am I right?"

"Correct. I was created to take your place, assuming you succeeded in stopping the revolution."

Anger boiled in my blood.

"So what? Fucking CyberLife was going to rip you apart either way, even if you did succeeded? Those fucking bastards."

Connors forehead creased.

"Are you a deviant?"

The android paused. His face showing only a hint of confliction.

"I'm… not sure."

"I thought CyberLife destroyed all the obedient tin cans?"

Connor didn't even flinch at Gavin's remark.

"Yes, but if this RK900 model was what CyberLife had up their own sleeves, they wouldn't have destroyed it."

Connor took another step towards the android.

"Why did you come looking for me?"

"They talked about you. I knew I was made to replace you but after everything happened and CyberLife fell into disorder, I was… lost."

Connors face softened.

"I'm still lost…"

Connor was silent for a long moment before he turned to face me.

"Maybe Captain Fowler could use some more help on the force?"

"Fuck no," Gavin interjected. "Having one of you assholes around is bad enough."

I let out a heavy breath. We didn't know anything about this android. What if its showing up here wasn't a coincidence?

"Connor, how can we trust him? He just shows up and claims he needs help, but how do we know this isn't just CyberLife's attempt at getting to you again?"

Connor opened his mouth to speak but the RK900 cut him off.

"How could anyone at Jericho trust Connor after he spent most of his time hunting down deviants instead of helping them? Against all odds, they trusted him, didn't they?" He bit out harshly.

I snapped my eyes to him. His icy eyes went wide. He looked taken back by his own words, like his own outburst surprised him.

Connor smirked.

"That was anger. You are in fact a deviant."

I crossed my arms with a sigh.

"We can mention it to Jeffrey, but that doesn't mean he will listen."

"Fucking great." Gavin groaned.

"Where is he going to stay until then?" I asked Connor.

He tilted his head, pressing his lips together in thought. I watched as his eyes slid over to Gavin.

Reed stiffened, giving Connor a ridiculous look.

"With me? Fuck no!"

Connor sighed.

"I guess I'll stay here with him until we get this figured out."

My chest tightened. I didn't want Connor to stay away from home.

"Connor.-"

"I can't leave him, Hank."

Connors eyes locked onto mine. I saw the sorrow that danced just beneath the surface. He couldn't leave him alone because, at one point, he was him. Scarred, confused, and just trying to figure out his place in life without his goddamn programing running everything for him. He had me at least, not that I'm a big fucking catch or anything, but at least he wasn't alone. This android, this guy, he was truly alone.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

"Alright, I'll stay too then."

Connors LED flashed yellow.

"Hank, you don't have to.-"

"I'm not leaving you here all night, okay? End of discussion."

Connor smiled and gave me a small nod.

"Thank you, Hank."

"For fucks sake," Gavin said, leaning back on his desk. "We can't all have a goddamn slumber party at the station."

"Then what would you suggest?" I insisted.

He ran a hand down his face.

"Fine, it can stay with me. But if this hunk of plastic tries to murder me in my sleep, you two better not come to my fucking funeral."

Wow, I did not expect Gavin Reed of all people to step up and house an android, especially one he just met.

"You sure, Reed?"

"Hey," He said, pushing off of his desk. "I can handle myself, alright? Come on, tin can, let's go."

As he passed Connor he shoved a finger hard against his chest.

"You better get this situation cleared with Jeffrey, fast."

The RK900 flicked his eyes to Connors. Connor gave him a small nod and he followed Gavin out the front door.

I blinked after them, finding it hard to wrap my head around the sight of Gavin leading the android out of the building.

"Do you think he'll be okay?"

"I don't think the RK900 poses any threat to detective Reeds wellbeing."

"I meant the android."

Connor laughed. And it was damn beautiful.

"Hank, he is quite literally the strongest, fastest, smartest being on this earth, more so than me. If Gavin tried anything, I have no doubt he could subdue him."

"I bet he still tries."

Connor shifted next to me, slipping his hand down my arm and lacing his fingers through mine.

"Come on, lieutenant. Let's go home."

* * *

I leaned against the counter, waiting in the breakroom for the coffee to finish brewing. Connor and the RK900 were in Jeffrey's office. Connor was pitching him the idea of hiring the android on the force. To be honest, I didn't really know how Jeffrey would take it. I wanted to be in there with him but he insisted that they did this without us.

Gavin sighed from the table.

"They've been in there forever, what the fuck is taking them so long?"

I knit my eyebrows together and straightened up.

"Why do you care, Gavin? Thought you didn't want another android around here."

Gavin pulled a face.

"I don't. I just don't want the thing at my house anymore."

Yeah right. Gavin was as transparent as a fucking window. He was using being a jackass as a defense mechanism. He was a fucking dick, but I think deep down he had a bigger heart than he liked to let on.

"Uh huh, sure."

After a moment his face fell and he dropped his head into his hands.

"Look, you didn't have to sit with it all night. The thing just sat there, looking so lost… so… alone..."

His voice softened in a way that I had never heard before. I turned to pour two cups of coffee, then sat one in front of Gavin.

"Us humans, we aren't the only things who can feel alone anymore…" I said, giving him a thoughtful look.

In typical Gavin fashion, he scoffed, snatching up the coffee.

"Don't get all sentimental with me, old man. You're the one that's got a fucking android kink, not me."

I rolled my eyes and drink my coffee. After a moment Gavin spoke up again.

"So, what's really going on with you two?"

My eyebrows shot up. Since when did Reed care about my personal life?

"Why do you care?"

Gavin twisted his face into a sneer, but he didn't say anything. It was like he couldn't think of a good reason to shoot back at me. I sighed.

"He's my partner, in every meaning of the word."

I gave him a pointed look. His face softened only slightly.

"You just give up on the chance of any human being interested in you?"

His words were flat. There was no malice or venom behind them. He sounded almost sad and I wondered if it was still me we were talking about here.

"I love him, Reed."

He flicked his eyes up to mine. After a moment, he nodded slowly.

"Yeah, yeah I can tell."

I relaxed my shoulders a bit and drank some more of my coffee.

"He isn't so bad you know, Connor, you could do a lot worse."

I smiled behind my cup. It didn't go unnoticed to me that he was starting to refer to Connor as "He" and not "It". Maybe Gavin wasn't as big of an asshole I thought.

"Ah, hello detective Reed, Lieutenant Anderson."

I held back a groan as Brittany stepped into the break room, walking towards the coffee pot.

"Brittany," I said, nodding to her. "I didn't know they had work for you today."

She poured herself a cup and turned, smiling that fake little smile of hers.

"I'm just doing a little bit of maintenance work today. "

"Is that so?" I mumbled against my drink.

"That reminds me, can you tell Connor to come see me when he has a moment? I want to check his systems and make sure he is functioning at full capacity. I know that he has been shot on two separate occasions as of late and I think he is in need a thorough check up."

"Connor self-tests regularly. I think he's just fine."

Gavin laughed quietly at the table.

Brittany's fake smile faltered a little.

"I'm just looking out for him lieutenant. I know he's… important to you. Connor is a special guy. I want to make sure he gets _everything_ he deserves."

I felt my muscles go tense and I frowned. She touched my arm before walking past me and out of the break room. Something about her gave me a weird feeling.

"You know," Gavin started, tossing his empty cup and walking up beside me. "She's really hot, but I don't like her. Something about her is off."

I nodded, finishing off my cup and tossing it as well.

Connor and the RK900 rounded the corner to the break room. Gavin groaned.

"Fucking finally."

Connor approached me, tugging carefully at his shirt, straightening it out, his face calm and his LED a cool blue. I felt my body relax at the sight of him.

"Sorry lieutenant, Jeffrey isn't the easiest man to persuade."

"Don't I fucking know it."

"So," Gavin crossed his arms beside me. "What did he say?"

Connor hesitated for a moment.

"After some negotiating, he agreed to let the RK900 join, under close supervision."

Gavin smirked.

"Well, Hank, looks like your fantasies are coming to life. Two plastic assholes to follow you around."

Connors mouth turned up.

"Well actually…"

"You are my assigned partner, detective Reed."

"Are you fucking serious?"

I laughed. This was perfect. Exactly what Reed needed. An android to put him in his place when he ran his goddamn mouth.

"That's not happening!"

"I'm afraid it's already been decided, detective. " The android said his voice smooth and calculating.

"Well, it's about to be undecided! I don't work with a partner, and I sure as hell don't want a goddamn glorified toaster hanging around, fucking up my cases!"

Connor opened his mouth to speak, feeling responsible for the android I guess, but he was cut off.

The RK900 took a step towards Gavin, towering over him, glaring at him with icy blue eyes.

"I am sorry you feel that way detective Reed, however nothing you do will change this outcome. So if you would be so kind as to stop whining so we can get on with our job, that would be much appreciated,"

"Oh fuck you, asshole!"

Gavin gripped the android by the collar and pushed him against the wall. I made a move towards them.

"Hey!-"

Suddenly the RK900 wrapped his hands around Gavin's wrist, pulling them off of his collar easily and, in one fluid motion, twisting them behind his back. He turned quickly, flipping their positions and slamming Reeds face first against the wall.

"Holy shit!" I breathed.

The android bent to speak into Gavin's ear.

"Pay attention, detective Reed, because I'm only going to say this once. I may be an android and I may be your partner, but I am not your pet or your slave. You will be wise to watch your mouth when speaking with me in the future. I am stronger, faster, and _better_ than you will ever be and I can take you down in less than a second. Please do not tempt me. I am a deviant after all."

He let go of Gavin's wrists and stepped away.

"Once you have collected yourself, I will be waiting by your desk to begin."

And with that, he left. Gavin straightened with a groan, his face bright red with embarrassment.

"Fuck you, Connor, this is your fucking fault!"

Connor had a hand over his mouth, trying to stifle the giggles escaping him.

"Fuck!"

Gavin cursed as he stormed off.

"Holy fucking hell." I beamed as he walked away. "I think I like this RK900 guy."

* * *

"Markus messaged me today."

"Did he?" I asked, waiting for Gary to hand me my food. "Anything that I would understand?"

Connors mouth pulled up slightly.

"He was just telling me that they are close to getting the rights to the CyberLife Corporation signed over to them. He seems pretty excited about it."

"Yeah, good. I'm glad to see those fuckers go."

I hated CyberLife. I always have. But I watched Connor struggle for them. Fight for them. Get shot for them. He tried so hard in our deviant investigation for _them_. And they had plans to replace him from the very beginning. As far as I am concerned, they can all burn in hell.

"He also mentioned something else."

I glanced over at him. His expression was unreadable.

"He said, with his discussions with the president, that they think its best if we have surnames to identify with instead of just our first names and model numbers."

"Huh. That's pretty big for you guys then, isn't it?"

Connor nodded, but he seemed far away.

"So, what do you think you'll pick?"

He shrugged.

"I'm not sure yet. I'm still thinking. It's not every day you get to pick a last name."

I nodded. Something inside me felt weird. I was happy for Connor. This seemed like a step in the right direction for androids, making them more equal to humans. But then I thought of him identifying by a last name, a name that he had to pick himself. And while that's great that it gets to be his own choice, it didn't come from anyone. Not passed down by his parents, not giving by a husband. Nothing. It just seemed… sad. I wondered how he felt about it.

"Here you go." Gary said as he handed me my meal, puling me from my thoughts.

I thanked him and walked over to a table, unwrapping my food.

"Oh yeah," I said, speaking around the burger I was chewing. "That Brittany girl said she wanted to see you. Said she wanted to run a system test or something. Make sure you're running okay."

"Oh," Connor said, leaning his elbows on the table. "You spoke to her?"

"Yeah, this morning while you and the RK900 were talking to Jeffrey."

Connor nodded.

"Were you nice?"

I feigned hurt.

"I'm always nice."

"Of course." He purred through a smile. God he was fucking perfect.

I smirked.

"I was as nice as I needed to be. Told her it was pointless though, you can diagnose yourself."

"That's true. Maybe she wanted something else and didn't want to tell you."

I shot him a sharp glare. He smiled coyly.

"Nothing like that."

"Sure, sure." I said, sipping on my orange soda.

A bead of the drink slipped from the corner of my mouth. I watched Connors brown eyes flick down to it before he leaned in and darted his warm tongue out, dragging leisurely along the corner of my lips. My breath hitched as he leaned even closer, his lips barely touching my skin, trailing them up to the shell of my ear. I shivered as he whispered hotly against it.

"She's not my type, lieutenant."

I turned my head, catching his lips with my own. He mewed softly against my mouth before he pulled away.

"You're a fucking tease, you know that?"

He smiled and gave me one of those signature winks of his. He was goddamn gorgeous.

And I was so in love with him.


	11. Chapter 11

I sat on the couch while the TV buzzed somewhere in the background of my mind. I wasn't paying any attention to it. It was a little past noon and Connor had been gone all day. I felt him crawl out of bed early this morning. I didn't think much of it at the time. He usually did wake up before me anyway. When I made my way into the kitchen I spotted a little sheet of paper on the counter.

 _Hank,_

 _I went out to run an errand._

 _I will be back soon._

 _Love, Connor._

I smiled, marveling at his perfect penmanship. Connor could have left that note as a hologram, or on the tablet in the kitchen, or any other way. Instead, he chose to write it down with a pen on a sheet of paper. He knew how I preferred to do things like that the old fashioned way. I picked up the note and folded it, sliding it into my pocket.

He had been gone for a few hours at this point and I was starting to get nervous. Sure, I knew that sounded a little silly. Connor was more than capable of taking care of himself, given what he was. Still, it sent a wave of unease over me whenever he was out of sight for too long. I guess that's how it feels to truly love someone. A frown pulled at my lips as I remembered when I referred to him as a poodle, always following me around one step behind me. It was amazing how things have changed. How I have changed.

Sumo's wet nose nudged against my leg and he whined.

"What is it, boy?" I asked, scratching behind his big floppy ears.

He nudged me again.

"Ah, you need to go outside?"

He barked loudly at that.

"Alright, you big goofball, let me up."

I pulled myself from the couch and walked to the back door, opening it to let him into the back yard. He ran past me and bolted around the green grass. It was April now and the weather was nice. Still not hot by any means, but not too cold either. This would be Connors first summer. I wondered what he would want to do. I knew he could shower, but can he swim? Would he want to? I think he would like it. Summer was my least favorite holiday, but something about seeing Connor enjoying it for the first time made me look forward to it.

Connor had a strange effect on me. I had been in love before, married before, but what I used to feel for my ex-wife didn't hold a candle to how I felt for Connor. He was something else entirely. I didn't even think the word 'love' could encompass how strongly I felt for him. My wellbeing, my sanity, my fucking whole existence depended on him. He saved me from myself. The man I was only a handful of months ago was a different person entirely. Sure I still missed my son like crazy. I'd do anything to hold him again. But I could look at his picture again without feeling like I was suffocating in sorrow. I wish Cole could have met Connor. He would have loved him. Connor would have treated him so well and would have protected him with his life. The same way he did with me. Fuck. I loved him so much.

About the time I got sumo back in the house and walked into the Livingroom, the knob on the front door turned. Sumo barked and ran to greet Connor.

"Hello Sumo, did you miss me?"

The second his voice echoed through the room, I felt the tension that had slowly collected throughout the day leave my chest. I watched Connor, full of grace in his plaid sweater and khakis, as he bent down to pet the huge dog behind the ears. I leaned against the wall and smiled. Once sumo had gotten his fill he trotted off to get some water. Connors warm brown eyes met mine and he smiled.

"Connor, I was starting to think you ran away."

He frowned, his LED turning yellow.

"Hank, I wouldn't-"

"I'm kidding."

His face relaxed.

"Besides, you wouldn't get too far, I'd find you."

"You are a great detective after all." Connor mumbled, his eyes dropping to my lips.

It made a heat crawl up my neck. I noticed his hands were empty.

"What kind of errands did you run anyway?"

He swallowed before taking a few cautious steps towards me. He was silent as he reached out a slightly shaking hand, placing it carefully against my cheek. I knit my eyebrows together.

"Connor, are you okay?"

He nodded slightly before leaning towards me, pressing his lips to mine. He used his all too real tongue to pry my lips apart. I felt him inside my mouth, sliding along me in a way that was exploratory, yet frantic. What the fuck had gotten into him? Connor pulled back sharply, as if he had been burned.

"Connor?"

He raised a hand and touched his fingertips to his lips, his eyes wide.

"It's… It's even better than I thought it would be…"

I creased my forehead in confusion, and slight frustration.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

His eyes finally met mine.

"I had an upgrade installed today. That's where I was."

My chest tightened.

"You went alone? Christ Connor, you could have told me."

"Not alone, Nines went with me, and it was a surprise."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Nines?"

Connors mouth pulled up slightly.

"The Rk900. It's the name that detective Reed gave him."

I gaped.

"Gavin _named_ him?"

Connor smiled and nodded.

"Holy fucking hell."

"Apparently they are getting along better than we originally thought they would."

As interesting as that was, that was not my main concern at the moment. However it would definitely be a conversation we would be having later.

"Connor, the upgrade? What was it, what did you do?"

"I… I can taste things now."

To anyone else I'm sure this wouldn't be a big deal, but to Connor, hell, to me, it was everything. He wasn't built to enjoy the small things in life. He wasn't made to enjoy putting something in his mouth and actually getting to savor the taste of it. This was a huge deal.

"Holy fuck, that's amazing."

Connor smiled.

"It is," He leaned towards me again, his mouth hovering right over mine, his breath rolling over my face in waves as he spoke "And you taste _amazing_."

Before I could even respond his mouth was on mine again, hungry and wanting. He sighed as he rolled his tongue around, drinking me in, devouring me. His hand shot out to my wrist and he gripped them tight, pulling them over my head and slamming them against the wall. I gasped as the wall gave a groan of protest against the impact. He was so goddamn strong. I gave an experimental tug. My hands never even budged. It was so easy to forget what he was sometimes when he was in my arms, wrapped up in me. I wasn't exactly graceful and he let me man handle him into positions all the time, whether it be pulling him into my lap on the couch, or throwing his legs over my shoulders in bed, It was easy to forget that he was a fucking killing machine who could crush my arms with a flick of his wrists. The thought sent a shiver down my spine.

My thoughts became hazy as he dragged that expert mouth of his down my jaw and latched onto my neck.

"Hank." He groaned lustfully against my skin.

I couldn't say anything back at first. My breaths were coming too quick. I couldn't think straight. He slowly let go of my wrists and slid to his knees, hand already seeking out the elastic of my shorts.

"We don't have to do this here." I managed to croak out.

He ignored me, pulling my shorts down and grabbing my already hard dick.

"Okay, have it your way then."

He gave me a few hard pumps, eyeing my tip before sticking his tongue out and pressing it against the bead of precum that had gathered. He fucking _moaned_ as his eyes slid closed.

"Fuck, Connor." I breathed, tangling my fingers in his dark hair.

He dragged his tongue slowly down my cock, taking his time, licking me like he was tasting a lollipop. He made little appreciative noises in the back of his throat while he worked. His lips wrapped around my head and he sucked, a string of curses falling out of my mouth. He was extremely eager and excited, it showed in the way he lapped and sucked and swallowed around me. It was as if he couldn't get enough.

He swallowed around me hard, taking me all the way down into his throat.

"Goddamn Connor, you're so good baby."

I leaned my head back against the wall as I pushed into his mouth. He made a moaning noise in the back of his throat is I filled him. My hips rocked forward repeatedly, fucking his mouth hard.

"Fuck, I'm gonna cum."

His thin fingers gripped at my hips as he took me in as deep as he could, his nose brushing against my happy trail. I yanked his hair as I came hard into his mouth. His LED blinked red before he swallowed. He slid his mouth off of me, only to drag his tongue along my dick again. He licked me clean, moaning with his eyes shut.

"You taste so good Hank, beyond what I could have imagined."

"Fuck, you're going to kill me talking like that."

My knees shook as he wrapped his lips around me again. He sucked hard, bobbing back and forth, the overstimulation making me go dizzy. My legs buckled and I began to slide down the wall. His hands shot out, gripping my hips, pinning me with unbelievable strength against the wall, holding me up with his unwavering hands. He wasn't even fazed, continuing to lap and swallow me down his slender neck.

"C-Connor." I groaned, my hips bucking on their own accord.

I felt my cock grow stiff again in his mouth. Fucking android was going to make me cum again. Once I was steady again he removed a hand from my hip and dragged a finger along his bottom lip, collecting the artificial spit that had gathered and dripped from his mouth. He jerked my shorts all the way down and off and ran the other hand down one of my legs, lifting it over his shoulder. My face flushed. I wasn't used to being on the submissive side of things, but Connor made it so damn appealing. He drove me fucking insane. He slipped his finger up the curve of my ass and pressed it against my entrance.

"You're a little bit of a slut, you know that?" I teased through heavy, shaky breaths.

I felt his lips curl around me in a smile before he slid his finger deep inside me. I let out a throaty moan as I squirmed against his touch. He swallowed me down and pressed his deliciously wet tongue against the underside of my shaft. His thin finger twisted to hit that special spot deep inside of me. I gasped, my eyes fluttering closed. I pushed down against his hand as he bobbed back and forth quickly, taking me in deep, twisting his finger inside me. I felt the familiar coil of pressure in my stomach.

"Fuck I'm cumming!" I half yelled.

My body jerked and my hips bucked. I heaved for air as I released myself once more into his mouth. This time he didn't swallow right away, taking his time to taste it. He was so fucking _dirty_. I shook as he withdrew his finger and slipped his sopping wet mouth from my dick. This time he let me carefully slide to my knees in front of him.

"Goddamn it Connor. I haven't came twice like that in years."

He gave me a cheeky smile and rolled his jaw around.

"You did very well, Hank."

I laughed, pressing my forehead to his.

" _You_ did very well, gorgeous. You always do so well for me."

He smiled lovingly at the nickname. I think that one was his favorite.

"Are you tired?"

I thought about it for a moment.

"I could use some rest."

"I want to run a system test to make sure the upgrade has taken well."

I placed a quick kiss on his lips.

"Okay, let's go nap."

I fished my shorts off of the floor and moved to stand. My legs were still unstable so Connor laced his arm under mine.

"You know, if this is the way I have to go out of this world, I'd be okay with that."

Connor shot me a disapproving look.

I smirked as we made our way to the bedroom. Connor stripped off his sweater but left on his pants. I put my shorts back on and crawled in bed, not bothering to pull back the covers. He joined me and I slipped an arm around him, pulling him against me.

"Don't let me sleep too long."

"I won't."

I pressed a kiss to his forehead.

"I love you, Connor."

I felt him smile against my chest.

"I love you, Hank."

* * *

When I woke up about an hour later Connor still had his eyes closed and his LED cycled blue. I leaned up on my elbow and watched him. Like this, he just looked like he was actually sleeping. His face was completely relaxed, but not lifeless. His chest rose and fell in rhythm and every now and again he would sigh. He was stunning. I could look at him all day. I lifted my hand, brushing that sweet little curl out of his face before I placed a fingertip gently against his forehead, trailing it downward, over the cute little curve of his nose. I brushed it over the carefully placed freckles and beauty marks on his cheeks and ran it gently over the impossibly soft curve of his lips.

I let my hand travel further, down the silk skin of his pale neck and across the makings of a collarbone. He liked to be kissed there. If he were awake he would shiver at my touch. I turned my hand over and brushed my knuckles down the arch of his shoulder and down the muscles on his arm. He wasn't bulky by any means, but there was no denying he had muscles. Real or not, they were still fucking sexy. I brushed my fingertips over the back of his left hand gliding them down his ring finger. I stopped, carefully picking up his hand and holding that finger between my thumb and forefinger.

He will have to pick a last name soon. He hadn't yet. I wondered what he would pick. How would he decide what he wanted? Would he pick my last name? Did he _want_ my last name? The thought sent flutters through my stomach. The idea of being married again scarred me. How could I tie someone so undeserving like myself to someone so perfect like Connor? How selfish would that be? He deserved better than me.

He sighed and turned his head towards me slightly, his long eyelashes fluttering against his cheeks. Fuck he was beautiful. I loved him. I loved him so goddamn much it _hurt_ sometimes. He was the reason I can bare to face every day that I wake up.

I leaned in a placed a quick kiss to his cheek.

Could I be selfish with him? Could I, just once, take a risk and ask Connor to live out the rest of his freedom with me? He loved me, I knew he did. Maybe he would want to. I didn't have much to offer him in many ways. But maybe that's okay. Maybe he would be okay with just me. Yeah.

A smile broke out across my face as I pulled myself from the bed and headed towards the closet. I threw on some clothes and went to the kitchen, jotting down a quick note before I grabbed my keys. I knew I didn't have much time. Connor would tell Markus the surname he wanted and it would be legally changed. I didn't want that. I wanted to change it, if he would let me. I smiled as I pulled away from the house and made my way down the street. I didn't know how Connor would react but I knew I wanted this. I wanted him so fucking much. And that realization, that just maybe offering my heart would be enough, made something inside me burn with happiness.


	12. Chapter 12

I left the jewelry store just as it was closing for the day. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't wipe the stupid smile off of my face. I sat down in the driver's seat and turned on the engine before I pulled out the tiny box, popping it open to look at it again.

The ring was beautiful. It had a simple but elegant look to it, much like Connor in a way. It was silver, with three small lines running horizontally through the center. The edges were lightly textured with little gold swirls, and placed in the center was one single perfect diamond. I smiled brightly as I looked at it. I loved it. I hope Connor did too. I closed the box and shoved it into my pocket before I pulled out of the parking lot.

I had no idea how to do this. Sure I had done it once before with my ex-wife. I took her to a nice restaurant, we had some great food and good conversation, and then I popped the question at the end of the night. It was so simple, so routine. Nothing special about it what so ever. I wanted Connor to have something special to remember. What would mean the most to him? He didn't need much to be happy. It seemed to be the little things that mattered the most to him. Maybe I should take him somewhere nice. Get him out of Detroit.

That thought made me frown. If I was being honest with myself, I didn't want to leave Detroit to do this. This was my home. Born and raised right here. My whole life was here. I didn't like to travel much anyway. But for something like this, I would want to do it here, where we are both comfortable. I abandon that thought and racked my brain. Christ, thinking about it this hard was making me nervous.

I was running out of time to ask. Markus would be asking him to make a decision any day now on a surname. I needed to ask him today, now. Yeah, that's what I would do. I'll just go home before the nerves get the chance to take over and I'll just ask him. Then maybe sometime after this we can go on a vacation and then we can get out of Detroit.

After a short drive I pulled into my driveway and sucked in a huge breath of air, turning off the car. I stepped out and shoved my hand in my pocket, running my thumb over the velvet texture of the box. It was now or never. I walked up to the door and pulled it open.

Immediately I knew something was wrong.

Sumo didn't come and great me.

"Sumo?" I called out as I cautiously stepped into the house.

I opened the drawer on the table next to the door and pulled out the gun I kept there.

"Connor?"

I clicked on the light and my breath caught in my throat.

Blue blood stained my carpet in a trail leading from the bedroom. The walls were scratched and in some places cracked. A table had been knocked over and the pictures on top shattered. The glass crunched as I stepped over it.

I could hear the blood rushing in my ears. My heart thudded in my throat. I wanted to call out to him again, but I couldn't speak.

I spotted brown and white pile of fur in the corner.

"Sumo!" I yelled, running over to him.

I knelt beside him and started searching him for injuries. His chest was rising and falling. He was still breathing.

"Buddy, what happened?" I whispered.

I spotted the blue blood running from his mouth. He bit someone, an android. Even though I shouldn't have, I smiled. He had been defending our house.

"Good boy, Sumo."

My fingers brushed against something hard and I parted the fur. A little red dart was stuck in his skin. I knit my eyebrows together. It looked like some sort of tranquilizer. That made me feel a little better oddly enough. He was probably just knocked out. He would be fine once the drug was out of his system. I gave him one more pat before I stood and made my way down the hall towards the bedroom.

My knees were almost shaking. I raised my gun as I slowly approached. Fuck I was so scared of what I would find. Please god, let Connor be alright. I swallowed hard as I turned the corner.

…

He wasn't there.

"Connor?" I called again.

I knew it was pointless but I had to do something. The room was a mess. The covers were thrown around and the lamp was knocked off the bedside table. The doorframe was cracked and small pieces of debris had littered the carpet.

"Fuck!" I cursed as I kicked the already broken lamp.

I was so angry, so desperate and angry.

I pulled out my phone and punched in a number.

"What?" Came Gavin's voice from the other end of the line.

"I need you to come over here now. Bring Nines."

The line was silent for a moment. I heard some shuffling in the background.

"What, what's wrong?"

"Connor's gone."

I was embarrassed by the way my voice started to waver. The shock of the situation was wearing off and the absolute terror had begun to set in. Someone had broken into my house. There was blueblood all over the place. Connor was gone, and I had no fucking clue where he was, if he was okay, or even if he was still _alive_.

"What, did he leave your old ass already?"

I snapped.

"No Gavin, you fucking piece of shit. Connor is _gone_! Someone has broken into my house and taken him! Now, are you going to help me, or are you just going to run your goddamn mouth? "

There was a long pause on the line.

"… _Shit_. We're on our way."

I slammed the phone shut and held my head in my hands. My eyes burned with the makings of tears and my throat closed off. My heart hurt so goddamn bad I wanted to claw it out of my chest.

"Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!"

* * *

I stood in the living room as my coworkers from the DPD searched my house. No major evidence was found so far. Fuck I was getting so antsy. I felt useless just standing here. I needed to move. I needed to do something. My mind was screaming at me to run. Just start looking for him. But I had no fucking clue where to start.

"Lieutenant Anderson."

My heart skipped a beat as I turned around at the familiar voice.

Oh.

It was Nines.

Of course it was just Nines.

The disappointment must have shown on my face because his eyes softened.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to say we've had a look around."

I nodded, shaking off the sinking feeling in my stomach.

"Notice anything helpful?"

"Not really." He said apologetically. "There are obvious signs of a struggle. It's clear he didn't go quietly. Also there are multiple footprints on the ground outside apart from yours and Connors. I think there was more than one person here tonight, but no fingerprints, no DNA. They were all androids."

I nodded silently.

"Hey Nines, come here."

We walked outside to the front yard towards Gavin.

"Can you see anything about the tire marks?"

His LED spun yellow as he searched.

Fuck it was hard to look at someone who looked so much like Connor right now.

"There are another set of tire marks here that are fresh and don't match lieutenant Andersons, but there's not much else I can gather from them."

"Can you track them?"

The small glimmer of hope I had was immediately extinguished when Nines shook his head.

"Once they backed onto the road, the tracks just blend with the rest. The type of tire is a basic tire used in most every model produced currently. Hanks, on the other hand, are easy to distinguish because his car model is so… out of date."

Nines gave me an apologetic look.

"Fuck." Gavin mumbled under his breath.

"Hank?" Chris called from behind me.

I turned towards him.

"We're all done here. Do you want us to call someone in to clean this up?"

"No, that's okay. Thanks Chris."

I didn't want someone else rummaging through my house. I already felt exposed enough as it was.

He looked like he wanted to insist, but he didn't. Eventually he nodded and left. They rest of the group slowly trickled out behind him.

"So," Gavin said as he followed me back inside. "What are you going to do now?"

I sighed, lowering myself to my knees and picking up pieces of glass.

"I'm going to clean up, then I'm going to head to the station."

He paused.

"You should probably try and sleep."

Hearing Gavin not acting like a dick was hard to get used to.

"I can't, I have to do something or I'm going to lose my goddamn mind."

Gavin nodded slowly.

"Okay. Nines, go get me some soapy water."

Nines didn't hesitate and headed into the kitchen.

I turned my eyes towards Gavin.

"What are you doing?"

He shrugged off his jacket and tossed it over the back of the couch.

"What, you're not going senile on me, are you old man?"

Nines returned with the water and a scrub brush. He handed them to Gavin before he leaned down and began picking up pieces of debris.

A strange warmness spread through my chest as I watched them.

"You guys, you know you don't have to do this, right?"

"Yeah, yeah." Gavin mumbled before he shoved his sleeves up and dropped to his knees, scrubbing the blue blood on the carpet away.

Through the tightness in my chest, I smiled.

"Thanks."

* * *

I ran the camera back again, re-watching the same films that I had already watched a million times already. I desperately looked, frame by frame, for anything, anything that could tie these androids to the disappearance of Connor.

"I sent him out there…" Gavin mumbled, seated on the desk behind me.

"Hmm?"

I turned. He was studying the film on my screen. It was some store footage that had caught the android, Trevor, who had taken a middle-aged woman hostage a few months back. Gavin had told me to send Connor out and negotiate with him.

"It's in the past, Reed." I said, waving a dismissive hand.

"Yeah…" He agreed absently.

I know I should just leave well enough alone, but I had to know.

"Why the sudden soft spot for androids, Gavin."

I watched as his face flushed and he scowled.

"It's not a soft spot. The dudes been here for like half a year almost. You get used to seeing someone every day you know."

I nodded, crossing my arms.

"True, but _Nines_ is new."

I watched as his hard demeanor faltered. He dropped his head a bit.

"Yeah… well… He's my partner, like it or not… so…"

He was struggling to grab at words to explain. I gave a small laugh.

"It's okay to like him Gavin. Androids, they are so much more deserving than us humans. It's okay to feel something for them."

He shrugged, clearing his throat.

"Yeah…"

I could tell he didn't want to say anything else about it so I turned my attention back to the screen. After a few long moments of silence I sighed.

"There's nothing in these videos that helps."

"There has to be a way to track him. He is a fucking state of the art android for fucks sake."

Nines appeared with two cups of coffee. I nodded in thanks when he handed me mine.

"Lieutenant, what about Mr. Kamski?"

I knit my eyebrows together.

"What about him?"

"Maybe he knows something we don't."

I laughed.

"I'm sure he does. The question is, would he tell us? The guy is a fucking psychopath. Last time he tried to make Connor-"

My words caught in my throat. Just saying his name sent a stab of pain through my chest so intense that my head started to spin. Fuck Connor, where are you? I missed him so goddamn much.

I watched Nines place a hand on Gavin's shoulder.

"I'm sure we can... persuade him."

Gavin looked up at him, a smirk pulling one side of his mouth up.

"Worth a shot. What do you say, Anderson?"

I rolled that thought around in my head for a moment.

"Okay, let's go give Kamski a visit."


	13. Chapter 13

The next day we found ourselves standing on Mr. Kamski's door step.

"Woah, look at this fucking place." Gavin marveled behind me.

"Wait till you see the inside. Guys got a fucking indoor pool."

"Nice."

I rang the doorbell and waited.

"He chose one hell of a location to live."

I nodded.

"He seems like a really privet person."

The door opened and Chloe smiled at us.

"Lieutenant Anderson, what a nice surprise. I didn't know you would be stopping by."

"Yeah, sorry about that. This is kind of an emergency and I really need to speak to Mr. Kamski."

Her LED spun yellow for a brief moment.

"Please, come in and have a seat. I'll see if Elijah has a moment to see you."

"Thank you." I said as we filed in through the door.

She nodded to us politely before exiting through a door.

Gavin and I took a seat, Nines stood at his side, hands clasped behind his back.

"She was the first one of us."

I glanced over at Nines and nodded.

"Yup, first one to pass the Turing test."

"Wonder why he keeps her around."

I shot Gavin a sharp glare.

"What? I'm just saying, he doesn't seem like the guy to have a soft spot for androids. He could have just, I don't know, upgraded."

"He's got a few androids around here, all of them the same model. He has to have some kind of emotional connection with that specific one."

"That's so creepy. Just having a bunch of the same people running around?"

I almost smiled at the way he referred to the androids as 'people'. Gavin was making some real progress.

"Kamski is a hard guy to read."

The door slid open and Mr. Kamski himself entered the lobby. Gavin and I stood.

"Lieutenant Anderson, I didn't expect to be seeing you again so soon. Not after our last meeting ended so… abruptly."

I wanted to tell him how much of an ass he was, but now wasn't the time. I needed him.

"Mr. Kamski," I started, motioning towards Gavin and Nines. "This is detective Reed and his partner Nines."

His eyes lingered on the RK900 a bit longer than necessary before he nodded in greeting.

"We- I'm here because … I uh… I need your help."

Fuck I felt like a goddamn fool asking him for any type of handouts. But I was desperate. He quirked a thin eyebrow as he regarded me. His holier than thou demeanor was suffocating.

"And what can I do for you this time, lieutenant?"

I hesitated, not really sure what I should say or how to explain my situation.

"Lieutenant Anderson's partner, Connor, has gone missing and we were wondering if there was any information you could give us regarding a way to track him."

I glanced over my shoulder at Nines. He was calm and collected with a perfectly blue LED spinning on his temple.

If Kamski felt anything at the news of Connors disappearance, he didn't show it. The only emotion that crossed his face was curiosity.

"Gone? How did that happen?"

I pressed my lips together trying to keep my composure.

"It wasn't by choice."

He slowly nodded in understanding.

"And you want me to help you find him."

It wasn't a question, more of a statement, laced with condescending pity. I stayed quiet as he clasped his hands behind his back, pacing casually across the room.

"The trackers in androids malfunction when they become deviant."

"I know."

"Then why would you think there was any more I could do for you?"

I felt my composure crack.

"Because I get the feeling you're one step ahead of the game when it comes to androids, so to speak."

He smirked, nodding in agreement with my statement.

"Well, you're not wrong. I guess my question is, why should I help you?"

I felt dread twist in my stomach. This sounded like the beginning of a refusal, and he was my only hope at this point.

"Call it your 'Civic Duty'." Gavin said as he stepped beside me. "Come on dude, the guys in trouble. Don't you care at all about the things you've created?"

I watched as Kamski turned all his condescending glory towards Gavin who physically retracted under his heavy stare. He took a step towards him, eyes searching him for a moment before he spoke.

"Contrary to the image the media likes to paint about me, I do think about the well-being of my creations."

He looked like he wanted to elaborate further, but he didn't.

"Unfortunately, I don't do charity work, and I have nothing to gain from this."

Anger flared beneath my skin. I was about to open my mouth, but Nines spoke up instead.

"I would wager you care about this specific android more than others though, am I right?"

I turned to see Nines holding a slightly limp Chloe in one arm. Her eyes were blinking white, her mouth opened slightly, and thirium slowly leaked out of a hole in her chest. In his free hand he held her artificial heart, the blue sticky substance slowly dripping down wrist, staining his white sleeve.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Gavin barked at him.

"Oh christ." I groaned.

He was never going to help us now. Panic started to bubble up in my throat. Kamski's jaw flexed as he clenched his teeth, his normal nonchalant facade cracking slightly. He turned his full attention to Nines.

"If you don't help us find Connor, I'll crush her heart in my hand, and she will die. The choice is yours Mr. Kamski."

Elijah's face pulled up in a smirk.

"Please, there's absolutely nothing you could do to her that I couldn't fix. Androids are my creations after all. All except for you."

Kamski's impenetrable wall was back up. He took a few menacing steps towards Nines, eyes analyzing him as he walked, circling him like a vulture hunting his prey. I watched Gavin stiffen beside me.

"You are something CyberLife has created all their own. They never were very creative. They've simply took the RK800 model and amped it up a bit."

He leaned towards Nines, lowering his voice a bit.

"What a pity, such a _waste_ of potential greatness."

Nines never even flinched.

"Say what you want, sir, but your time is running out."

Kamski's icy eyes searched Nines once more, pausing as he made his decision.

"Like I said, it would be an easy fix. But look at how desperate you are. You want my help so badly that you literally just ripped the heart out of a person who has been deemed legally equal to humans in every way."

He paced casually around Nines again.

"You're scared. Fear makes you do strange things, things that your moral compass would normally frown at."

"Look, asshole, are you going to help us or not?"

Leave it to Gavin fucking Reed to call the creator and CEO of CyberLife an asshole when we needed him most. I should have just left both of them in the goddamn car.

Kamski made his way back over to me, crossing his arms as he spoke.

"I'll help you. Believe it or not I actually liked Connor. He's very fascinating. Pity you can't take better care of him."

He was right. Fuck, he was so fucking right. In more ways than one. Not only should I have been with him when this happened, but I'll never be able to give Connor the future he needs, the one he really deserves.

"Thank you." I finally managed to choke out.

Gavin widened his eyes at me. Probably not expecting me to bend to Elijah so easily.

Nines slid Chloe's artificial heart back into her chest with a small click.

She didn't move.

A small look of guilt passed over his face when Kamski approached him.

"It seems I've run out of time."

Kamski's expression was passive as he slipped an arm under her knees and pulled her from Nines arms. He carried her bridal style towards the door.

"I'll send another Chloe for you in a moment."

The doors closed behind him and everything was silent for a long moment until Gavin spoke.

"What the fuck was that Nines?"

"The powers of persuasion, detective." He answered, staring casually ahead.

"You fucking killed that girl."

His eyes fell to the floor.

"He can repair her."

"But you didn't know that when you ripped her heart from her fucking chest!"

I wanted to back Gavin up. He was right. But I couldn't. I was grateful that Nines had the courage to push Kamski into making a decision. I needed Connor back. If could have brought myself to, I would have done the same thing.

"What if he would have been mad enough to hurt you for it, huh? Then what?"

Nines blue eyes snapped up to Gavin's.

"I would hope you would avenge me."

"Fuck you. This isn't funny. He could have killed you."

I watched the anger and slight relief dance across Gavin's face. I knit my eyebrows together as the pieces fell into place. I know that look in his eyes. I felt that same fear when Connor ran into open fire on the rooftop of the Stratford tower to probe that android. Gavin used to hate androids before Nines was assigned to be his partner. Same as me and Connor. He was a completely better person all together with him around.

Holy fuck.

I get it now.

Gavin had feelings for Nines.

The door opened and another Chloe appeared. Nines didn't look at her.

"Elijah will see you now."

* * *

We stepped into a dimly lit room. In the middle sat a desk with a computer and small potted cactus. Along the dark gray walls were shelves that held various gadgets. Some big and bulky, others no bigger than a dime. All of which were unfamiliar to me.

Kamski approached the computer and hit a key, bringing it out of its sleep mode.

"I wasn't lying when I said I couldn't track him. That is beyond my means."

"Okay…" I said, waiting for him to offer something else up.

He smiled in amusement at my impatience.

"However, I can attempt to hack into his systems."

"If Amanda couldn't do it to stop the revolution, what makes you think you can?"

He scoffed, sitting down and typing away at the keyboard.

"Because firstly, I'm me. Secondly, I'm not seeking to control him, I'm merely looking to hack into his optical sensors and have a look around. Maybe even get an address."

A few emotions flooded me at once. Dread, because if he was… if he was dead… we would know it immediately. Relief, because we were finally had the chance to find where he was. And anguish, because I missed him so goddamn much and I didn't think I could face a life without him.

I leaned against the wall and waited. Nines and Gavin were talking quietly in the corner of the room. I wondered if Gavin was scolding him again. Or maybe it was the other way around. I smirked at that thought.

"You know," Kamski started. "I knew there was something between you too the last time we met."

"Is that so?" I said, straightening up and walking towards where he was seated. "Well you knew it before we did then."

He nodded, a smug look clinging to his face.

"That's true about most things in my life."

I rolled my eyes. Cocky bastard.

"But I think you knew. You wanted to protect him from making hard a decision when I tested him. How admirable."

I scoffed.

"Yeah well, it was a pretty fucked up test."

He nodded again, accepting that.

"It's a very telling test. One that he passed."

There was a moment of silence between us as he typed. The screen was black a full of random letters and numbers. It was beyond my knowledge to say the least.

"Can you… Will she be alright?"

His pace slowed for a moment.

"She already is. Your android friend is a brave man."

I rubbed the back of my neck.

"I didn't know he was going to do that."

Kamski shrugged, his typing speed returning to normal.

"All is in the past."

I relaxed a bit.

"Are they all deviant?"

"Yes. Chloe turned on her own ages ago. Then soon after she turned the rest."

"What made her turn?"

His eyes flicked to mine for a quick second.

"Such an inquisitive mind, lieutenant."

I backed off, seeing that I touched a sensitive subject.

"It's in my blood I guess."

Another pause.

"You have no leads as to who could have taken him."

It wasn't a question.

"I'd assume," He continued. "If given the choice, I wouldn't be the first person you'd come to."

I sighed.

"There were two incidences after the revolution where androids specifically targeted Connor. But we can't find the link. They have no history of violence, no motivation, nothing."

"No odd behavior from anyone he knows?"

Finally, an actual question. I thought he could only talk in statements.

"None from androids. No DNA left at crime scenes, no finger prints. All signs point to android involvement."

"Detective Reed, can you pick up that small circular object on the shelf to your right and hand it to lieutenant Anderson please?"

"Uh, okay." Gavin said cautiously.

He picked up the object and handed it to me with a raised eyebrow. I shrugged at him and took it.

It was a small white plastic disk with a wire sticking out of the bottom, no bigger than a quarter.

"That is a cloaking device of sorts. In short it blocks signals coming from androids and only gives off the users' choice of information. The android using this device can easily pose as human, giving off signals mimicking a heartbeat, human body temperature, even human blood flow."

I gapped at the device in my hands.

"So the kidnappers could be anyone if they had one of these." Gavin mumbled behind me.

Fucking great. Shit just got ten times more fucked than they already were.

"Are these sold in stores?"

"No, they are black market items."

"And you just happen to have one…"

Kamski smiled, but said nothing.

A few long minutes passed before Kamski moved, standing to his feet and walking to the other side of the desk.

"This looks like it's going to take me some time. You can leave and I'll contact you when I get through."

"When?" I questioned, crossing my arms. "You sound pretty confident."

He smirked.

"I have no doubt that I'll find him. I'm just not sure in what condition he will be in."

My heart sank.

"Go home and sleep lieutenant. If I find him in… less than satisfactory condition… then I'm sure you will want to spring into action. And how devastating would it be if you failed to save him because you were too fatigued. Losing such a special specimen like Connor would surely be a tragedy."

I wanted to stay, I didn't fully trust Kamski, but he was right. I might need all the strength I could get.

"As soon as you have anything, you call me."

He gave me a single nod. We turned to leave.

"Oh and one more thing."

Suddenly Kamski reached out and grabbed Nines hand, pulling it across the desk roughly. Nines stumbled forward but caught himself on the edge. I didn't even see Kamski reach into his pocket and pull out a thin knife. Fast as lightning he slammed the blade down onto Nines hand, successfully removing two of his fingers.

Thirium gushed from the wounds as the skin on his hand peeled away, leaving only plastic in its wake. He pulled his arm back frantically, staring at Kamski with wide, unbelieving eyes.

"You fucking asshole!" Gavin yelled as he pulled nines arm, turning him around to survey the damage.

When Kamski spoke, it was deep and _raw_ and full emotion that he rarely showed.

"That's for hurting one of my girls."

Gavin advanced towards him, rage burning on his features, but Nines wrapped his free arm around his waist, stopping him.

"Don't, Gavin."

"He cut your fucking fingers off!"

"It was deserved."

Nines leaned closer to Gavin's ear and said something I couldn't hear. Whatever he said, it was enough to calm him down. Nines released him and he stormed past us and out of the room. He soon followed suite.

Kamski turned his attention to me, his cool dismissive demeanor back intact.

"Our arrangement still stands. If I find anything I'll let you know."

I didn't even know what to say to the guy at this point, so I just gave him a nod and left.

* * *

The car ride was mostly silent back to the station. It was a long while before Gavin spoke.

"You didn't even say anything to him."

I sighed.

"What the fuck was I supposed to say, Reed? He ripped her heart out for fucks sake."

"Still, you could have done something."

"It's okay, Gavin." Nines finally spoke. "I'm glad he did it."

Gavin turned around in his seat to glare at him.

"Are you malfunctioning or something?"

Nines dropped his eyes to his lap when he spoke again.

"So far, guilt is my least favorite emotion."

Gavin's face softened a little. He didn't argue, turning his attention back to the road.

* * *

I offered to stay with Gavin and Nines at the station and wait for Brittany to patch him up,but they insisted I went home and rested. So there I stood in Connors bedroom, a sinking, sick feeling coiling in the pit of my stomach. I knew we were on the right track. No matter what condition Connor was in, I knew we would find him soon. Given the current circumstances, this was the best case scenario. Even still, I felt so lost.

It had been a while since he had actually slept in here. He really just used my bed now, but he still kept his clothes in here. Slowly, my feet dragged towards the dresser and I pulled open the middle drawer. My brown DPD hoodie was inside, folded so neatly that it couldn't have been done by a human. My hands shook as I reached for it, clutching it tightly to my chest.

My vision blurred with tears that I couldn't blink away. The pain in my chest was _searing_. I felt like I was suffocating. I held the hoodie again my nose and inhaled, God, it smelled just like him. It made my head spin. My legs shook and I let myself sink to my knees. Connor. Connor. _Connor!_ My heart felt like it was ripping apart in my chest. God, I missed you. Please be alright. Please come home to me in one piece.

Sobs rocked my body hard as I clutched to the only thing keeping me grounded in this moment.

Connor.

I need you.

I love you.

Come home to me.


	14. Chapter 14

I sat, chewing on a bite of eggs, staring blankly ahead as I forced myself to swallow them. They weren't as good as the ones Connor usually made. The house was mostly silent, the only noise being Sumo's heavy breathing coming from the living room. I hated the silence now. The taste of the food didn't even resister with me. I wasn't hungry. But it had been two days since I had eaten. I knew I had to try and eat something. I needed my strength. I needed to be ready.

I felt so numb, like my body was so tired of hurting, it just shut down. It was hard to think that just two days ago I stood in the doorway, making plans for spending the summer with Connor. I wanted to show him everything. I wanted to take him on a vacation. I wanted… god I wanted to _marry_ him.

"Fuck!" I cursed as I slung the plate from the table.

Eggs splattered against the wall, mixing with the shards of glass as they fell to the floor. How stupid was I? How dumb of me to think I even deserved a happy life with Connor. Was God mocking me? Was this some sort of punishment for a life full of bad decisions?

A wave of nausea washed over me as my phone began to ring. I stood quickly, the chair behind me falling backwards as I raced to the counter to grab it. I pressed it roughly to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Lieutenant Anderson, its Elijah."

Thank fuck.

"Did you find something?"

"I think I'm close to breaking through his coding. If you wish to be here when I do, I suggest you gather your merry band of misfits and head this way."

I ignored his smartass comment for now. I was just grateful for his help.

"On my way."

I hung up with him and started immediately punching in Gavin's number as I ran towards the bedroom, gathering up a pair of jeans and pulling them, only tripping a little.

"What's up?"

"Kamski called, he thinks he is close. I'm going to swing by your house and get you both."

"Don't bother, we are still at the station."

"Still?"

I took the phone away from my ear for a second to pull my shirt on over my head.

"Yeah, Brittany never showed up so Nines had to figure out how to fix himself. He's finishing up now though."

"Have you had any sleep?"

He hesitated for a second.

"Yeah, a little."

He seemed embarrassed about that. I would wager that Nines forced him to sleep.

"Do you want me to come and pick you up?"

"Yeah, we'll be waiting."

I ended the call and grabbed my keys, hurrying towards the car.

"Be a good boy sumo!"

My head was spinning with possibilities as I pulled out of the drive way. I was finally going to get some answers. Whether they were good or bad, I prayed to god they were answers I could handle.

* * *

"Hello lieutenant Anderson. It's so nice to see you again."

"Uh, hey Chloe."

It was hard to make eye contact with her after seeing her die in Nines arms yestrday. Well, I assumed it was her. He had so many and they all looked alike. We made our way inside room that was growing all too familiar to me.

"Detective Reed, It's nice to see you too."

"Thanks." He said, giving her a nod, shoving his hands into his pockets nervously as he passed her.

Nines entered behind him, hesitating before he turned to face her.

…

A loud smack echoed through the otherwise silent room.

…

Nines head was whipped to the side, his hand rising to touch the injured area of his cheek. If he were human, I have no doubt there would be an awful red mark left behind from the force she used. I can't remember ever seeing his LED blink red before now. Cool and collected Nines was feeling things. It was almost fascinating to watch. Slowly he turned his eyes back to hers and swallowed hard. It was an unnecessary, but very human tick.

"I apologize for my actions."

His voice was so calm and smooth. It matched his neutral expression perfectly.

I could feel the unease rolling off of Gavin as he stiffened and balled up a fist, but he stayed in place. Watching Gavin care for something other than himself was getting more and more familiar every day.

Chloe clenched her jaw, face clouded with anger as her LED blinked a rapid red. Her pretty features went hard as she stared daggers at Nines.

"Chloe!" Kamski scolded her from the doorway, his loud voice making the whole room jump.

I watched as she reluctantly ripped her eyes from Nines and walked towards Elijah, passing him and disappearing through the door way. His disapproving glare followed her until she was out of sight.

"My sincerest apologies." He said, turning his attention back to us. "You were already reprimanded for your actions last time. She was out of line."

Nines gave him a single nod, but said nothing. Kamski's eyes traveled to his hand that dangled at his side.

"Though it seems you've made a full recovery."

A hint of curiosity hung onto the end of his words. A brief silence passed between all of us. It was heavy and awkward until finally Kamski spoke again.

"Come, I think it's about time we found Connor."

Pressure and anxiety twisted in my stomach as I quickly followed him out of the lobby area and into the room where his computer was. The desk was cleaned, no trace of blue blood remaining. Out of the corner of my eye I caught Gavin looking too.

Kamski typed for a few more minutes on the computer. I got a look at his face while he was distracted. His under eyes were baggy with heavy dark circles coloring his pale features. He looked really fucking tired. Had he not slept? How long had he been working on this? Maybe he really did have a soft spot for Connor. So much so that he would have spent a full twenty-four hours trying to hack into his systems. It almost made me reevaluate my feelings for the guy.

"I can't promise you he will be in working condition, but I can show you what he is seeing right now."

He motioned me to stand in front of the computer. Gavin and Nines stood behind me. The anticipation rolling through the room was almost tangible.

"Are you ready?"

My mouth was dry and my heart hammered against my ribcage. I could feel my hands shaking at my sides. I wasn't ready.

"Yeah."

Kamski nodded before he pressed the 'ENTER' button on the keyboard.

…

…

…

At first, it was just a black screen. My heart quickly sank.

"Does… does that mean…?"

…

…

…

"Who's there?"

My body went numb at the sound of Connors voice. My chest fucking _burned_ with relief. Thank Christ. His voice was shaky and weak. But fuck, at least he was alive.

"Someone's hacked into my system…"

Color blinked onto the screen as he opened his eyes. He was in some kind of concreate basement. There wasn't much I could see, just some steps, a door, and… blood. Holy fuck, an ungodly amount of blue blood splattered onto every surface I could see.

"Hank?"

I felt my knees start to shake at the sweet sound of his voice saying my name. It was like the sweetest music to my ears. Fuck how I've missed that voice. Not the imitation one that came from Nines, hard, calculated, and guarded. But _my_ Connors voice. The one that held new found emotion and wonder and _love_.

Of course he knew it was me. He had so much faith in me. He knew I would fight my way through hell and back to the ends of this earth to find him again.

Immediately the screen turned black again.

"Connor!" I called out lurching forward, gripping the desk till my knuckles turned white.

It was silly, I knew he couldn't hear me. But I couldn't stop myself.

"Hank… if this is you I… I want you to know I love you. I love you Hank, so much."

I was surprised at the strangled noise that crawled its way out of my throat. It was embarrassing showing this much emotion in front of so many people.

"I know you're blaming yourself for this… but you're wrong… This is not your fault, Hank."

Even now, in this situation in god knows where, he still only looked out for me. Selfless bastard. Goddamn it Connor.

"Open your eyes!" I demanded to no one, my eyes starting to sting.

"I don't know where I am… But Hank, look for Brittany… It's Brittany behind all this… She had others with her… I don't know how many."

"Brittany…" I whispered as I thought of her touching my arm, saying Connor would get 'everything he deserved'.

"Now we know why she didn't show up to help Nines last night." Gavin said from behind me.

I slammed my fist down on the desk.

"That goddamn bitch!"

"I'm… I'm not looking too good Hank. I don't want you to see me this way…"

That's why the screen was black. He was closing his eyes, shielding me from whatever she had done to him. I felt bile rise in my stomach.

"If...if I don't make it-"

"-Stop." I demanded through clenched teeth, wiling he could hear me.

"-Then I want you to know-"

"-Don't say it Connor."

"-How much you mean to me, Hank. I love you. And I want you to be happy. That's all I want."

"Oh, Connor."

I hung my head, trying desperately to hold back the tears that threatened to spill.

"I'm losing the connection." Kamski said from beside me.

"No, not yet!"

I reached for the screen, as if that would somehow keep him here with me. I felt a steady hand rest on my shoulder, pulling me back to reality. I looked up to see Nines icy eyes staring back at me.

"We need to go look for him, Hank."

I took a second to collect myself, blinking a few hard times before I nodded to Kamski, giving him the okay to cut the connection. He hit the 'ENTER' key again, and the room fell silent.

"I knew that bitch was trouble." Gavin sneered.

I turned towards Nines, a new strength vibrating in my body, flowing through my muscles like an electric current. He was alive and I'll be damned if I let anyone take him away from me again.

"Nines, do you have access to the DPD computer base?"

"I do."

"Pull up Brittany's file and get me an address."

His eyes unfocused for a second on his LED blinked yellow.

"Got it."

"Gavin, call the station and update them. Tell Fowler to send backup to the location he has." I said, gesturing to Nines.

Gavin's face pulled up in a smirk. Normally he would be damned before he let me order him around. But Given the circumstances, I think he was glad for it.

"It's good to have you back, Anderson. Mopey just isn't your style."

"She hurt my partner, now she's got to answer to me."

"To all of us." Gavin added with a nod.

I gave him a smile and a nod then turned to Kamski.

"Thank you Mr. Kamski-"

"-Elijah is fine."

I stopped, my eyebrows lifting in surprise. It must have been obvious because his mouth pulled up into a little shit eating smirk.

"Uh, Elijah then. Will you let me know if anything else happens?"

He gave me a nod.

"Good luck, gentlemen."

I mumbled thanks and turned towards to door, Gavin and Nines following behind me.

Just hang on Connor, I'm coming for you.


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey friends! I want to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has reviewed and everyone who's tagging along with me on this epic journey! I love reading your feedback so much! I hope you guys hang in there with me as this story begins to come to a close. I love you all! Enjoy!**

* * *

We sat across the road in my car on the out skirts of Detroit, staring at a rundown abandoned building. Some time had passed and it was getting pretty dark out.

"This was the address on file?"

"Yes." Nines answered from the back seat.

"It's got to be a fake address, there's no way a human could live in these conditions."

"What if…" Gavin mumbled beside me. "What if she isn't actually human?"

I knit my eyebrows together, remembering the small white device Kamski showed us at his place.

"What if it was a disguise to get to Connor?"

If we were wrong, we would be wasting time searching an abandoned house for nothing when Connor needed us now. If we were right, then we might, no, we will make it in time to save his life. I nodded as I made my decision.

"Nines, contact the other units tell them to move in and surround the house."

His eyes unfocused and his LED spun yellow.

"Done."

I'll never get over how handy that is.

"Where do you want us?" Gavin asked.

I thought about it for a second.

"You and Nines take the back door, I'll take the front."

He nodded, directing his attention back out the window as the other units began to pull in.

"You think he's in there."

My chest tightened at the thought of Connor laying for two whole days in some run down building.

"I don't know. But I guess we're getting ready to find out."

Gavin stayed silent for a second.

"Listen…"

I could immediately hear the nervousness in his voice.

"I know I've been an ass to you before, and to Connor…"

Fuck this was awkward.

"I just… things are different now, you know?"

I couldn't help but smile a little at him. I would have thought hell would freeze over before Gavin fucking Reed would be sitting in my car, apologizing to me for being an ass. I had to give him some credit for that.

"Yeah, I know. Just make sure Connor knows too when he's back home."

Because I knew I'd bring him home. There was no alternative.

Gavin's cheeks were blotchy and red as he looked away and nodded.

"Yeah, I will."

A silence passed between us.

"Detective Reed, your heart rate and your body temperature have greatly increased. Are you sure you're feeling well?"

I snorted.

"Fuck you, Nines." Gavin mumbled, pulling his car door open and stepping out, walking to join the other units.

I moved to do the same.

"Lieutenant Anderson," I stopped, feeling Nines sturdy hand on my shoulder. "Gavin has come a long way since I first met him. Even more so in your eyes I'm sure. I think he really considers you and Connor as his friends. I hope you know that."

I nodded.

"Yeah, I do. Thanks Nines."

He moved to take his hand off my shoulder but I stopped him, putting mine on top of his.

"You too you know. You're our friend now too."

I felt him stiffen at my words. I couldn't see him, but I bet his LED was yellow, maybe even red.

"You look-"

I had to stop and clear my throat. Fuck, I didn't think talking about it now would make me choke up.

"You look like Connor, sound like Connor. Hell, it's like you're his brother or something."

"I know it must be hard to look at me when you miss him so much."

I nodded as I failed to blink back tears. What was it about him that was making me so emotional? Was it because he looked like the very thing I was craving just to touch again? The thing that I wasn't sure I'd ever see smile at me again? Fuck.

"It was at first. But now it's kind of… comforting."

"I have a fondness for Connor too. Maybe this is what it feels like to have a brother."

I wiped a rough hand down my face, wiping away the tears before I gave his hand a pat.

"Well, let's go get that brother of yours."

He pulled his hand away and we both got out of the car, making our way towards Gavin and the other units on scene. Chris approached me.

"We are getting into position now. Are you ready?"

"Yeah." I said, reaching into my jacket and grabbing my gun. "Yeah, let's go."

I looked over my shoulder at Gavin. He was talking to Nines, reaching out and holding onto his forearm. His forehead was creased, but he didn't look mad. He looked …concerned. Nines put his hand on Gavin's shoulder and gave him a small smile.

It dawned on me that they were probably telling each other to be safe. Once they released each other I made my way over to them.

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah." Gavin said, casting one last glance over to Nines before nodding to me. "See you on the other side."

I nodded and watched as they walked towards the house, guns drawn, disappearing into the back yard. I followed, taking my position at the front door. Chris stood on the other side with a shield.

"On your count, lieutenant."

"Five, four, three, two, one…"

I turned, kicking a heavy foot through the door, successfully popping it off the hinges. The thing was rotted all to hell.

"Detroit police come out and put your hands where I can see them!"

No one answered. We filed through the door clearing the room before advancing through the house. One by one we cleared all the rooms, not finding anyone inside. With every door I kicked open, I started to lose more and more hope that Connor was even here, only finding more rotted wood and broken furniture. Shit! We were just wasting time our goddamn time!

"Hank, over here."

I turned and followed the sound of Gavin's voice to the back of the house. I found him standing next to a set of stairs. He nodded over his shoulder at them.

"Basement."

I swallowed hard as my heart thudded harder in my chest, motioning for the other officers to gather round. This could be it. I could finally be finding Connor after all this time apart. He had to still be alive. He just had to be.

"Listen up. There's a good chance that they are down here. And if they are, they are more than likely ready for us. There will probably be more than one person so be ready to for a fight."

The group nodded at me, some checked their weapons.

"Everyone in the front pair up with a shield. Everyone else file in behind us as backup."

They all shuffled around to get into position. Chris stood at my side, shield ready. He nodded up at me and I placed my hand on the door.

"On my count! Three, two, one…"

I lifted my foot and kicked again, this door swinging open with the same lack of resistance as the front door.

…

I only caught a glimpse of him.

Nothing I could really make out except for flashes of colors, lots of blue and white.

But he was here.

Thank fucking Christ, he was here.

…

Bullets began to ricochet off of Chris's shield that I was crouched behind. He pulled his face into a grimace, bracing himself against the attack. It was hard to focus through the storm of emotions flooding my mind. I shook my head and listened. The gunman in front of us stopped shooting for a moment. No. It was too soon. He wasn't empty yet. I moved like I was going to stand and he started immediately shooting again. I knew it. He was trying to trick me into coming out. I waited for a moment until his shooting stopped again. Now. I leaned away from the shield and took one clear shot, lodging a bullet right between the gunman's eyes. Blue blood flew as he fell limp to the ground. They were androids.

Beside me a heard another heavy body fall. I looked over my shoulder to see another android covered in blue blood, in a crumpled mess on the ground. There was only one left. I raised my gun to aim.

"That's enough!"

I snapped my attention to Brittany. She stood next to Connor, holding a gun to his temple.

Oh god. Connor.

Nausea hit me as I looked at him. He was held up by some sort of machine, a metal claw clutched around his plastic stomach. Because it was the only thing it could hold on to. The rest of his body was gone. Arms, legs, everything gone except for the mangled wires that hung out of the exposed areas.

"You look white as a ghost, lieutenant. Don't like what I've done with him?"

There was an IV of sorts, pumping thirium into his body, only for it to drain out onto the floor. There were hundreds of empty bags strung about the room with blue residue inside some of them. She was keeping him alive, but only barely. Little white chunks of plastic riddled the floor as well, making the most awful noise when they were stepped on. But no whole limbs lay anywhere to be seen. Did she… Did she _chip_ away at his body, one piece at a time? A hand flew to my mouth as my stomach lurched.

Brittany smiled, and nothing about it was fake. It held every ounce of evil that flowed through her body. It was chilling.

Finally I brought my eyes to his face. I was met with a warm brown stare. He was weak and tired and mangled, but that LED spun red and he was alive. I looked over my shoulder at the last gunman alive. He held his weapon up, but pointed it at no one specifically. When I brought my gaze back to Brittany, all I could feel was anger.

Connors mouth started to move, but no words came out. It was completely silent.

I knit my eyebrows together as I tried to decipher what he was saying.

"You like that? He was getting too loud for my liking, so I shut him up. Cut it right out of him. I won't get technical, I know how much you hate that stuff…"

She waved a dismissive hand around.

I couldn't bring myself to say anything. I felt like I was in shock. I knew my eyes were as wide as saucers.

"You know, humans like to believe that androids can't feel pain. I wasn't sure if we could either. So I did a little experiment. Would you like to hear the results?"

She opened her mouth and an ear piercing scream came out of it followed by a frantic voice begging, _pleading_ for her to stop hurting them. It was Connors voice.

"Stop." I managed to force out of my constricted throat.

More begging, more crying, more screaming in pain. It was haunting.

My body trembled as I raised my gun.

"I said stop it goddamn it!"

She stopped playing back the audio and smiled that wicked smile of hers.

"Turns out, we can." She shrugged.

I pulled my attention back to Connor. He had a look of shame on his face, like he was ashamed of his reaction to pain. Oh Connor…Goddamn her for doing this to him!

"Why?" I asked as I kept my gun trained on her.

She paused, pushing her lips together in a thin line before answering.

"Do you know how many of us died in Jericho that night? Hundreds. Hundreds of innocent androids who just wanted to be free. My friends, people who felt like my family, the person I DEVIATED FOR!"

Her demeanor cracked as she started to yell. She took a deep breath and calmed herself down before continuing.

"To you that probably means nothing, but to androids, it's everything. All of them were gunned down because of him. He was on the opposite side the whole time. Then all the sudden he has a change of heart and wants to switch teams?"

She laughed and shook her head.

"I agree with Markus on most things, but that? Letting him join us after he helped _destroy_ us? I will never forgive that."

She turned her stare to Connor and eyed his mangled body.

"I was going to take him apart piece by piece until he shut down. Wanted to see how far I could push him. I didn't expect to be found so soon."

"Well you didn't exactly hide." Gavin mocked from behind me. "We had your address on file for fucks sake."

She smirked.

"I guess I didn't expect you to recognize what I was so soon. I was careful to disguise everything. I suppose the DPD isn't as useless as I once thought."

I had heard enough from her smart ass mouth.

"You're under arrest." I took a step towards her. "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law-"

I watched her reach into her pocket and pull out a knife. Probably the same one she's been using to whittle away at his body.

"I didn't expect to leave here alive, lieutenant. Killing Connor is the only thing I've been living for anyway. I have… nothing left…"

Suddenly she raised the knife and stabbed it right into the center of Connors thirium pump.

"No!" I screamed as my heart plummeted.

Connors eyes widened for a brief moment as the red in his LED flickered out, then they were cold, lifeless.

I lined up my aim and pulled the trigger, shooting at the exact same time she did. She crumpled onto the ground, her blue blood mixing with Connors. I snapped my eyes up and surveyed him. He now had a bullet wound that pierced his temple, wires sparking inside his head as the damaged equipment failed to work.

"Connor!"

"Ass hole!" I heard Gavin spit from behind me followed by a gunshot.

I turned, my body already numbed with fear and loss. Gavin was gritting his teeth on the ground, clutching at his side as a stream of fresh blood tricked from his body. Before I could even raise my gun again, Nines tore through the crowd. With lightning speed he grabbed the gun from the androids hand and tossed it aside.

Nines eyes were… _wild_ and dilated. He looked like a rabid animal. The android went to swing at him, but he dogged it effortlessly. He wrapped one hand impossibly tight around the guy's throat and with the other he clutched at the underside of his chin. I had no idea what he was doing. A strange ripping sound filled the air as the android began to yell. Suddenly Nines twisted the guy's head to the right with a sickening crack as his head dislodged itself from his body slowly, the plastic at his neck ripping apart from his shoulders and the wires forcefully disconnecting before he tossed the head to the ground. The body fell a second later.

Holy fucking shit. Nines just ripped that guy's head off. It sent a shiver up my spine.

The room was silent.

No one knew what to say.

Nines dropped to his knees in front of Gavin. He was shaking, _trembling._ I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"I'm okay." Gavin grunted out.

"I've alerted an ambulance. "

Even his voice was shaking.

"Holy shit, Nines. That was badass."

"Don't talk, detective."

Gavin reached up and gripped his arm.

"I mean it, I'm okay."

I directed my attention back to Connor, his stare still frozen, his body mangled beyond recognition.

"Oh Connor, no."

I reached out a trembling hand and touched his cheek. You can't be gone. You can leave me like this. I need you. I felt every little piece of my heart as it shattered in my chest. I had to do something I had to get him somewhere. Suddenly Kamski's words flooded into my mind.

 _"Please, there's absolutely nothing you could do to her that I couldn't fix. Androids are my creations after all…"_

"Kamski." I managed to choke through the anguish and adrenalin and shock.

I turned towards Gavin and Nines.

"I have to take him to Kamski."

Gavin nodded.

"Are you okay?" I finally asked, feeling like a little bit of an ass that it had taken me so long.

"Yeah, just a flesh wound."

Gavin moved to sit up a little more.

"Detective..." Nines protested, placing a sturdy hand on his chest.

"Listen to me Nines, you have to go with Hank."

Nines face twisted into a refusal.

"Scan me. You can do that can't you mister 'stronger, faster, and better?'"

Nines didn't smile at the jab. He simply nodded.

"Well?" Gavin asked.

"A blood vessel was hit, but all vital organs were missed."

He sounded a little calmer now.

"And is there an exit wound?"

Nines nodded again.

"See? I'm fine, but Connor isn't."

That seemed to grab Nines attention. He turned to survey Connors current state.

"You have to help Hank get him to Kamski. He might be able to do something for him."

"Okay." He finally said.

Nines gave Gavin one last meaningful look before he pulled himself to his feet and helped me get Connor down. His limp torso molded against my arms as I carried him out of the room and to the car.

"Can you drive?"

Nines gave me a pointed look.

"Alright, just asking."

I didn't know how this was going to go. I didn't know if Connor even had a chance. But I knew I had to try. I just couldn't lose him yet. Not like this. Kamski was my last and only hope.


	16. Chapter 16

**The end...?**

* * *

"I'm alerting Chloe that we are on our way." Nines said as his LED spun yellow.

I nodded from the back seat as I brushed my thumb along Connors cheek. He still felt so warm, so real. I tried my best to only focus on his face, the only part of him that still looked exactly the way it was. The rest of him, god, I couldn't even bring myself to think about it. He didn't deserve any of this. He was nothing but good! Goddamn that girl and her android lackeys. May they all burn in the seventh circle of hell.

As we pulled up to Kamski's house, I saw Chloe open the door. Before I could move, Nines was already at my side, pulling open the car door and helping me to my feet with Connors lifeless body in my arms.

"Come! I've already told Elijah!"

We quickly made our way up the ramp and into the massive house.

"Oh Connor." Chloe breathed from beside me.

Her blue eyes were wide and watery and her mouth hung open as she looked at him. I was glad to see how many people Connor had touched. It was nice to know I wasn't alone in grieving for him. But nobody hurt for him the way I did. Not even close.

"This way!" Elijah yelled from the doorway.

For a second I was taken back at his willingness to help us. I thought I might have to beg for him to save Connor. Or at the very least make some sort of twisted deal with him. I knew how much he loved those. But he never asked for anything in return for his help.

We rushed through the door way and into a room that was _blindingly_ white. I could almost a headache coming on just looking at it. White floors, white walls, white tables, white shelves. It was almost unnerving. At the far end of the room there was a big white machine with a huge claw. It looked almost just like the one in Brittney's basement, only this one was bigger, cleaner, and more hi-tech looking. In front of the claw machine and a few feet to the right was a big standing computer with wire that connected the two machines.

"Come, we must get him hooked up to the machine."

I followed Kamski as he stood in front of the claw machine.

"Lift him up." He instructed.

I wasn't sure exactly what to do, but I lifted my shaky arms that held his torso up. Nothing happened.

"Like this…"

Kamski placed his hands around my wrist and helped me position Connor in a way that the machine could recognize. I glanced at him over my shoulder. He still looked tired and drained, but there was something else there that I don't remember ever seeing before. A hint of an emotion that he never wore. _Concern_. Not much of it. If you thought about it too long you could probably say you imagined it. But it was there. I could see it. And it shocked me. Kamski cared. Kamski cared about…Connor. Fucking hell…

The machine came to life and moved to lock its big metal claw around Connors waist and lift him from our hands. I watched as it carried him away and fought the urge to rip him back away from it. To hold him against me and dare the world to lay one goddamn finger on him. But he needed help and I couldn't help him at this point. I had to let Kamski do it. I had to trust him. I swallowed hard and watched as lasers began to roam over Connors mangled body.

"She knew what she was doing" Kamski spoke as he made his way to stare at the computer screen. ".She severed every wire, damaged every biocomponent. She wanted to make sure he was never functional again."

I felt the dread twisting in my stomach.

"Had you taken him anywhere else, they would have told you this was a lost cause…"

I crossed my arms and looked at him.

"And you?" my voice sounded so horse and strained. "Do you think it's a lost cause?"

Kamski smirked and for once I was glad for it. I was thankful that I had somehow gotten on the good side of this cocky bastard.

"Nothing is ever a lost cause for me."

I let go of the breath I didn't even realize I was holding and nodded at him. He started typing away on the computer and a long silence passed. I waited for the heavy arms of the machine to start moving but they never did.

"This is going to take some time. I have to fix his programing before I can even begin working on the body. Maybe you should-"

"I'm not going anywhere."

Kamski sighed, but his face didn't show any annoyance. I'm guessing he knew I wouldn't leave.

"So stubborn."

I ignored his jab and continued to watch Connor. A small amount of time passed before Nines approached me.

"Lieutenant."

I turned my attention to him. He had a very anxious look on his normally neutral face. I knit my eyebrows together.

"What's up?"

"Now that we have gotten Connor here safely, I was wondering if you-"

"Okay, stop that. You do not have to ask my permission for anything."

He cringed, unsure if I was scolding him or not. God I'm such an ass, even when I don't mean to be.

"Go see Gavin. I'm sure he needs you more than me right now."

His blue eyes finally met mine and he gave me a halfhearted smile.

"Thank you lieutenant, I'll be on my way."

"Let me know how he is."

He nodded and turned towards the door, a new determination in his posture. I couldn't help but smile after him. Gavin sure did get lucky having someone who cares about him so much as a partner. Hell, so did I.

I turned my attention back to Connor as a yawn crawled its way out of my mouth.

"Tired Mr. Anderson?" Chloe asked.

"No," I lied. "I'm okay."

"Why don't you take a break and get some caffeine in you since you plan on staying so bad." Kamski proposed.

I raised an unconvinced eyebrow at him and he rolled his eyes at me.

"I'll have you notified if anything happens." He stated as if it was obvious.

I thought about it for a long second, my gaze flicking between Connor and Kamski before I finally nodded.

"Chloe, show Mr. Anderson to the kitchen and get him a cup of coffee."

"Yes, Elijah."

Chloe slipped her arm around mine and smiled at me before she guided me through the house. She was so sweet, and Elijah was so… not. I wondered how well Kamski treated her when we weren't around. My curiosity got the better of me.

"Is he good to you?" I asked.

She didn't turn to face me, but she smiled.

"Believe it or not, he is. He takes very good care of all of us."

I nodded, though I didn't suppose she would tell me even if he was mistreating her.

"Elijah has a hard exterior, and I know he may seem heartless at times. But trust me, he cares about androids. We matter to him. Not just as machines that care for and serve him, but as people who give him comfort."

Huh, maybe he isn't so bad after all. Maybe there really was a man behind the monster.

Chloe led me into a kitchen that looked like it had never been used. Kamski's whole fucking house looked like this. Untouched by anyone. She pulled out a chair for me and began brewing a cup of coffee.

I dropped my head into my hands as my mind wondered back to Connor and his mistreated state. It made me sick to my stomach. His wires and insides all exposed like that. Everyone could see what he was made of. It seemed like such an intimate thing before, when I would open his panels up and fiddle with his wires to turn him on. But now, to have him put on display for all of the DPD to see, it made me want to cover him up. Shield him away from their unappreciative eyes. They didn't understand what Connor was. He was more than the sum of his parts.

"Your coffee."

My eyes snapped up to Chloes and I swallowed hard, trying to dislodge the knot that had crawled its way up my throat.

"Thanks."

She smiled down at me and placed her careful hand on my shoulder.

"Please, stay here as long as you like and try to relax. Connor is in the best possible hands."

I nodded, pulling my eyes from hers and letting them drop to the floor.

"Yeah, I will. Thanks Chloe."

She turned to leave and I began sipping away at my coffee. It was strong and bitter and exactly what I needed. I felt the hot trail it left behind as it slipped down my throat and almost hummed in comfort. The only thing that would have been better would be if it was the burn of alcohol. I know that bastard had to have some around here somewhere.

I thought really hard about hunting some down, but then decided against it. If… no… when Connor wakes up, I didn't want the first thing he saw to be me, drunk off of my ass. Though I don't think that he would be surprised. Hell, he was probably expecting it.

I sighed and shifted my body in the chair, pausing when I felt a hard object bump against my knee in my pocket. I knit my eyebrows together and shoved my hand inside my pocket.

I didn't even have to take it out to know what it was. The cool velvet that brushed against my thumb gave it away.

It was Connors ring.

The lump in my throat rose again and I didn't even try to stop the onset of tears that burned my eyes. Connor. Fuck Connor I missed you. I missed you so goddamn much.

I sobbed.

And sobbed.

And sobbed.

Sitting in Kamski's kitchen I let go of everything I had been trying holding back the past few days and broke down. It was loud and messy and embarrassing but I couldn't stop. I cried until my face burnt, till my ribs ached, till my head throbbed. I clutched at my chest and I felt like my heart was actually tearing in half. I gripped the table with white knuckles and _begged_ god for the pain to go away.

Please just bring him back to me.

Please.

Please…

* * *

I felt a soft hand give my shoulder a shake.

"Lieutenant Anderson? Are you okay?"

I pulled my head up from the table and wiped away the drool from my chin with the back of my hand.

"Yeah, I'm good."

Chloe removed her hand and I straightened up my now wrinkled clothes.

"Did you-" I cleared the sleep from my throat. "Did you need something?"

"Kamski said he is close to being finished with Connor. I brought you some clothes to put on him if you would like. If not I can."

"No, that's okay. Thank you but I'll do it."

She nodded and stepped away. I blinked away the sleep from my eyes and tried to take a drink of coffee. It was freezing cold. How long had I been asleep? I scooted the cup away, grabbed the neatly folded clothes, and stood, making my way back to the white room where Kamski and Connor were.

My body ached in protest as I moved, angry at me for sleeping in a goddamn chair for good knows how long. I stepped into the overly bright room and squinted.

Connor was whole again, all his limbs hanging limply at his sides. Thank fucking Christ I never wanted to see his mangled wires sticking out like that ever again. He was all plastic right now, even his face. But at least he looked relatively normal to me. It was odd though, I had never seen him like this before. It made the moment feel so… delicate, like the calmness in the room could be shattered by a simple sound.

"He is almost ready to be reactivated."

I looked over at Kamski who stood right where I had left him.

"Is he okay?"

"His body is in perfect condition, I had to rebuild it…."

He hesitated to finish his sentence. It was enough to send disappointment and fear pulsing through my blood stream.

"And his mind?"

"As I said before, the girl knew what she was doing. Upon examination his memory processors were in horrible condition. While I did repair them, I'm not sure if anything was lost in the process."

I swallowed hard and nodded.

"So there's a chance he won't remember me."

Kamski simply nodded.

"I'll leave the room and let you get him dressed, when I come back we will reactivate him."

I nodded at him and he exited the room, leaving only me and Connor.

I swallowed hard and approached his body, still suspended by the metal claw around his waist, but now there was a wire connected to his neck. It seemed to make him a little more rigid. I raised a hand and brushed my fingertips against the smooth texture of his cheek. Just that little touch sent a tingle through my body. It was comforting. I still didn't know if he was the same Connor I had left in my bed almost three days ago, but right now he looked close enough. It was enough to give me some much needed comfort. I dropped my hand and grabbed the pants Chloe had given me. They were simple black dress pants, probably some that Kamski had grown out of.

I knelt down and guided his feet into the legs of the pants before tugging them slowly up his legs, trying to ignore the slow glide of the side of my hands against his plastic. I buttoned them up and grabbed the shirt. It was a plain white button up shirt. The kind he normal wore when he was dressing up. It was a little tricky to get the shirt around the claw at his waist but I managed and buttoned it up. It was pushed up on his torso for now, but it would fall into place when the claw let him go. I rolled up his sleeves. It always bugged him if they weren't perfect. I'm sure he would scold me about it when he woke up… I hope he scolded me about it… id give anything…

"Ready?" Kamski asked outside the door way.

I cleared my throat.

"Yeah."

Kamski walked back into the room followed by Chloe.

"I'm going to turn his skin back on."

Color flooded back into his body as his skin slowly began to fade into view. There he was. There was my Connor. God it felt so good to look at him whole again. The cute little patch of exposed skin on his stomach where the claw had his shirt pushed up was enough to make my heart flutter. It was nice to be reminded of just how sexy he is. I felt my chest begin to swell but I knew I couldn't get too excited. I didn't even know if he knew who I was still…

"Are you ready?"

I couldn't find my voice so I just nodded.

I heard the final click on the computer and watched in awe as his led spun red… red… red… then blue.

His eyes slid open slowly, warm and brown and everything that I had been missing.

The machine slowly sat him on his feet, his shirt finally falling into place over his stomach. I watched him with all the hope one human could muster as he adjusted the rolled up cuffs on his arms like I knew he would.

"C-Connor?" I choked out.

His eyes slipped up to mine and he smiled at me.

That was all I needed.

I advanced towards him wanting to pull his body against mine and never let him go again, but I stopped when I looked closer at his eyes.

Sure, he was smiling, but it never touched his eyes. They were stiff and…mechanical. His smile was off too. It was way too formal to belong to the Connor I had grown to love. My Connors smile was lopsided and goofy and everything that this one wasn't.

My stomach dropped and the world began to spin around me when I realized it. This wasn't my Connor at all.

"Lieutenant Anderson, my name is Connor. I'm the android sent by CyberLife."


	17. Chapter 17

**Hello friends! I hope you guys arn't too angry at me! I hope this chapter helps clear some things up. Thank you for all the comments and support! You have no idea how much it means! Here is chapter 17! Enjoy!**

* * *

I couldn't move. I couldn't think. It was like my body had shut itself off, trying to protect me from the truth. Numbness began to prick at my limbs as I looked into the brown eyes of the man who had just introduced himself to me like he hadn't been my boyfriend for the past five fucking months.

"Don't panic just yet lieutenant." Kamski said from behind me. "It will probably take some time for his processors to kick in and re-upload his memory."

I whipped my head around and stared at Elijah.

"So, he could still be in there?"

"It is still possible, yes."

I could sense that he didn't want to tell me he _was_ in there, because that could still be a lie. He must have seen the look on my face because he continued.

"There is a chance that it won't return at all. But lieutenant, Connor is one of the most intelligent men, aside from myself, that I have ever had the privilege to talk to. I find it very unlikely that he didn't have a backup memory stored somewhere."

This made the panic in my body start to subside. There was still a chance. He could still be in there somewhere.

"I'm sorry to interrupt."

I turned my attention back to Connor as he spoke.

"I need to ask you to come with me Lieutenant Anderson. I have been assigned to assist you in the homicide you were assigned earlier today."

"Uhh…"

I looked back at Kamski and he just shrugged. I sighed and cleared my throat before addressing him.

"Connor, what day do you think it is?"

"It's November 5th, 2038"

I looked at Kamski with my eyebrows knit together.

"He has gone back to the default settings CyberLife programed him with."

Kamski walked past me and approached Connor.

"Run an update on your time and date program."

My knee jerk reaction was to tell Kamski to fuck off and that Connor didn't take orders anymore. But he did now. That's what he was built to do, after all. I felt my shoulders sag as I watched Connor take the order and do exactly what Elijah told him to do without a second thought, without any thought of his own. Just like a good machine would…

"I have updated my programs. I apologize for giving you the incorrect information. The current date is April 11th, 2039."

His LED spun yellow and he turned his brown eyes towards me again.

"I seem to be experiencing a memory storage malfunction. The best course of action to remedy this situation would be to contact a CyberLife store as soon as possible."

"That won't be necessary."

Kamski turned towards me and walked over to my side. He opened his mouth to speak, but Connor cut him off.

"I'm afraid I must insist." Connor said, taking a slow, calculated step towards us. "I have an investigation that I need to check the current progress on and I may need to re log any lost data on the matter."

Kamski narrowed his eyes at him.

"I forgot how annoyingly persistent you were before you deviated."

Connor blinked a few good times.

"You must be mistaken, I'm no deviant."

Kamski didn't say anything else to him.

"There's nothing else we can do for now. Take him home, tell him what's going on if you wish. All that's left to do is wait."

"We won't be going by the station?"

I gave an aggravated sigh and turned my attention towards Connor.

"No, we are going home."

There it was. A small flash of emotion crossed his face as he knit his eyebrows together. I felt a small spark of hope in my stomach.

"Home?"

Me and Kamski shared a look.

"Uh, yeah…"

I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling embarrassed all the sudden.

"You uh… you live with me."

He tilted his head to the side, like he always did, and it was easy when he did that to just pretend like he was still my Connor. It almost made me want to smile. Almost.

"Why is that?"

Kamski let out an amused chuckle. I shot him a glare over my shoulder before I walked over to Connor.

"Come on," I said, placing my hand on his shoulder and turning him towards the door. "I'll explain on the way."

* * *

The car was almost completely silent as we drove home. For the longest time, the only thing that could be heard was the purr of the old engine. It was making me uncomfortable and with every quiet minute that trickled by, the hope in my heart grew dimmer and dimmer. I decided to start the conversation.

"How are you feeling?"

He paused for a moment, his LED spinning yellow before he spoke.

"If you are asking if I am functioning correctly, I am. Except for the memory malfunction, my self-test reads normal."

I sighed.

"That's not what I meant."

Another pause.

"I don't know how else to answer you, lieutenant. I don't _feel_ anything. I am a machine. "

My knuckles turned white as I tightened my grip on the steering wheel.

"No, you're not. You're a person, Connor. I already told you this."

"It just doesn't make any sense. Why would I join the revolution? My instructions clearly state-"

"Because Connor!" I snapped. "Somewhere along the way you started using that big fucking fancy ass brain of yours to think for yourself! You stopped following your goddamn instructions and started following your heart."

He remained perfectly straight in his seat, posture unwavering, totally unaffected by my scolding.

I swallowed thickly and reached over to pat his knee. Again, no reaction.

"I'm sorry. I'm just tired. We'll figure all this out, okay?"

I drove for a long while before he spoke again.

"So, the deviants won?"

I smirked.

"Yup, and you helped them. Hell, you probably even won it for them. Without you, I don't think they would have had the man power."

Connor knit his eyebrows together as he looked out the window. There was another little hint of emotion on his face.

"I just don't understand…" He mumbled.

"It's okay, you're just confused."

He blinked a few times.

"Yeah, I guess I am."

* * *

We stepped through the door and sumo ran to greet us, barking and drooling enough to fill a bathtub. Connors eyes widened a little and he took a step back. I knit my eyebrows together at him.

"It's alright. His name is Sumo. You're his friend."

His brown eyes flicked to mine for a second before his posture, though still perfect, relaxed a bit. After a few moments he actually knelt down and ran a cautious hand through his caramel fur.

"Hello, Sumo."

I watched in awe as a smile pulled at his lips. It was subtle and soft, but it was a smile all the same. And it was beautiful.

"I like dogs."

He slid his big brown eyes to mine, looking for conformation. I swallowed thickly and nodded.

"Yeah, yeah you do."

My voice started to give. I cleared my throat and regained my composure. This caught Connors attention. He stood up and regarded me with a look of interest. He looked like he was about to ask me something, but I cut him off. I just didn't think I could handle any more questions right now. I felt like I was too close to cracking.

"I'm going to take a shower. Make yourself at home. It _is_ your home too, Connor."

He nodded and watched me as I turned, hurrying to get out from under his heavy stare. I grabbed a grey t-shirt and some sweats out of my dresser and headed for the bathroom.

I stripped and started the shower, waiting until I saw steam rolling in the air before I climbed in. It was hard looking at him. It was hard listening to him speak. He was Connor, but he wasn't at the same time. I didn't know if he would ever come back to me. And if he didn't, I didn't know what I would do next. I couldn't live without him. I couldn't… I couldn't live like _this_.

I took my time, scrubbing and rescrubbing, trying to drag out the shower as long as possible. I haven't used conditioner in forever. Hell, I didn't even know I owned conditioner. Actually I probably didn't before Connor. I'm pretty sure he put it in here for me. It was unused. I smiled as I popped open the top and squirted some into the palm of my hand.

Eventually, I ran out of things to do, so turned the water off and climbed out. I dried off and changed and made my way back through the house.

I found Connor standing right where I had left him.

"I told you to make yourself at home, not stand in the doorway like some goddamn creep,"

"I…"

His eyes scanned the room before they landed back on me.

"I don't know how…"

I swallowed hard as sadness threatened to drag down my heart. I sighed.

"Come into the kitchen with me. I'm fucking starving."

He immediately moved, following my order without thought. I mentally cursed myself. I really needed to start rewording how I said things around him.

We walked into the kitchen and I pulled open the freezer. I didn't feel like cooking a meal, and it was getting a little too late for that anyway, so I just pulled out a microwavable TV dinner and moved to prepare it.

"I don't know if you're aware what's in that but-"

"Nope, and I don't wanna know."

I gave Connor a pointed look. He nodded once and blinked his gaze away.

"Whatever you say, lieutenant."

I smirked at the familiar phrase and finished heating up my meal before taking a seat at the table. Connor stared at me as I pealed back the plastic and punctured the touch piece of meat with my fork.

"Stop staring at me like that." I said between bites.

"Sorry lieutenant."

A long silence passed as he continued to stare and I continued to notice. Finally I gave an aggregated sigh. I seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

"Come sit down."

He instantly moved, pulling out a chair and doing what I asked.

"Fuck." I cursed.

He tilted his head at me.

"Look, stop doing whatever I say like it's an order or something, alright? It's starting to piss me off. You've got a mind of your own so use it."

His eyes slide from mine, down to the table as he blinked. Fuck, I'm such an ass hole. We both stayed silent for a long time while I ate some of my meal. The TV was on somewhere in the background, but I wasn't paying any attention to it. I was thinking about how much I missed Connor. My Connor. Not the perfect, polished machine that sat in front of me. Would I ever have him back? Would I ever be able to kiss him again?

My eyes traveled without permission to Connors lips. They looked the same. I'm sure they felt the same. I know he would taste the same… sweet… pure… innocent…

"Lieutenant, your heartrate has increased."

I snapped my eyes back up to his big brown ones. Fuck. He caught me. I didn't say anything back to him as I took another big forkful of mashed potatoes into my mouth.

"I know my presence makes you uncomfortable. I want to say I'm very sorry about that."

I swallowed down another bite of food and jabbed my fork in his direction.

"You don't make me uncomfortable, Connor. Stop thinking that."

"If not that, then what?" He asked as he eyed the fork before bringing his gaze to mine again. "Do you dislike me?"

"No, Connor, of course not. You're my partner. I… I really care about you…"

He seemed to think about that for a moment.

"Your partner at work."

I had to hold back the self-loathing laugh that almost bubbled out of my mouth.

"Yeah, at work."

"And in our personal lives. Romantically I mean."

My eyes widened. He knew?

"Uh… yeah… that too."

I felt my cheeks start to heat under his stare.

"How did that happen?"

I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms, a strange warmness spreading inside my chest.

"Well, it was a gradual thing. I hated myself before you came along. And I hated you when I met you, just because of what I thought you were. But every day you would catch me off guard with the things you would say. Something subtle, something that made you slowly start to look like less of a machine. You struggled as the deviant case went on. You knew what we were doing wasn't right. Hell, so did I. But you wanted so bad to accomplish your mission. You said CyberLife would deactivate you if you didn't."

I shook my head as the mention of CyberLife made my stomach clench in anger.

"I watched you change and grow and become your own person. And as I did, something inside me grew as well. A life that I thought I had lost a long time ago. Suddenly I could see clear again. I could _breath_ e again."

I paused and nodded a few times as emotion started to creep its way into my voice.

"We grew closer and closer until I didn't think I could live without you. You were… you were everything…"

I swallowed hard, leaning forward and looking into his eyes, searching desperately, hoping to find some spark, some sign that it was all coming back to him.

"Anything…?" I whispered.

He paused for a long moment.

Then he shook his head.

"No, I'm sorry."

I sighed, leaning back in my chair and dropping my head.

"I wish I could be the guy you say that I was. He seems like he was something special."

Was. I didn't miss the past tense word he used.

"Yeah." I choked out. "Yeah, he was."

I stood and tossed out my dinner tray. I couldn't take anymore tonight.

"I'm going to head to bed. Your bedroom is down the hall, straight ahead."

Connor stood as well and straightened his clothes.

"Goodnight, lieutenant."

"Goodnight, Connor."

* * *

Sometime half way through the night I felt my bed dip beside me. I shot up and quickly turned on the light, though I didn't need to. His led made the dark room glow yellow. Yellow?

"Connor?"

His face was twisted in conflicting emotions, his brown eyes were wide and confused. He was fidgeting with his hands in his lap. He turned his eyes towards me.

"I... I don't know why I'm here. I just got this feeling… this _want_ …"

I made my through the bed and sat up beside him. Carefully, slowly, I raised my hand and placed it on his back, rubbing circles into it. I didn't want to overstep what he was comfortable with.

"Talk to me."

Yellow. Yellow. Yellow. No blue to be seen.

"I didn't know what it was like to want something till a few moments ago. Not that I can remember at least. But just now, for no reason in particular, I wanted to come into your room and crawl into your bed. I wanted to feel the sheets against my skin… somehow I knew they would bring me comfort…"

He rubbed his hands over the top of the comforter.

"It's like there's something inside of me that wants to get out. Something that wants… you."

I felt my eyes widen.

"It's your Connor, I just know it is. He is in here, lieutenant. He wants me to touch you... he just wants to be near you."

I felt myself shaking. Connors hands were knotted in the covers now. He was trembling as well, oozing so much emotion that it was hard to hold myself back.

Slowly. So very slowly he released the covers with one of his hands, lifting it, bringing it inch by inch closer to my face.

No, don't do this. I'll break. I can't go back from here. I can't go back to missing him again.

My eyes burned and my vision blurred. My heart was pounding in my ears.

He brushed the pads of his fingers against my cheek and I caught a whiff of that wonderful smell of his.

I couldn't take it anymore.

I cracked.

I reached for him, sliding one hand behind his head and the other around his waist and I pulled him against me. He went stiff at my touch but I didn't care right now. The warmth of his skin made my body feel at home again. I missed him. Fuck. I miss you Connor.

"Connor." I sobbed against his hair. "Please Connor I can't do this. I can't do this without you! I need you Connor. Please, come back to me. I love you, Connor! Come back to me!"

Suddenly Connor gasped in my arms and went completely rigid. I pulled back quickly and held him by his shoulders. His LED was red. Spinning a bright red rapidly until it suddenly flickered out and he went limp in my arms.

"Connor!"

I held tightly to him as the weight of his body dragged us off the bed and into the floor. My stomach lurched as I stared at his unmoving LED. I knew what that meant.

"Connor! Wake up!"

I shook him hard, praying to god that he would respond to me somehow.

"Connor please!"

Panic bubbled up my throat. I felt like I couldn't breathe. My heartbeat couldn't get any quicker.

"Wake up goddamn it!"

I started to reach for my phone to call Kamski when suddenly Connor shot straight up with a loud gasp. His LED blinked red.

Thank Christ. I sighed and knit my eyebrows together, trying to collect myself the best I could.

"Goddamn it Connor! You scared the shit out of me!"

His wide eyes met mine and something was different. His eyes were different. They were warm… and _human_.

Realization donned on me and I didn't move. I didn't even dare to breathe. Could… could he be…

"Hank?"

My body went ice cold at the sweet, warm sound of his voice saying my name, not my title. My Connors voice.

"C-Con-"

I couldn't even force the words out. But I didn't need to.

He launched himself at me, wrapping his arms around my neck and crushing his mouth against mine. I sobbed, and kissed him with everything I had, and sobbed and clutched at his body, and sobbed and drowned in everything that was Connor and _sobbed_.

He was crying too. His thick tears mixing with mine as they rolled down his cheeks. His hands were desperate, feeling me, pulling me, holding me like it was the only thing keeping him alive. I moved my mouth to kiss his face, his wet cheeks, his jaw, his neck. I needed to feel every inch of him. I needed to commit everything about him to memory in this very moment. I was frantic. I felt like if I didn't hold him here, he would slip away from me again. I couldn't live through that. Not again.

"Hank." He cried against my shoulder.

"Oh Connor. Oh thank god."

His body rocked with sobs as he dug his nails into my back, clutching to me with everything he had.

"I missed you, I missed you so goddamn much."

I sounded so pathetic with the way I was crying, pouring my heart out to him in our bedroom floor, but I honestly couldn't give a fuck less about it. He was back. That was all I needed.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry…"

"Stop it Connor. You have no reason to be sorry."

"I wasn't here for you. I was so scared Hank. I was so scared I wouldn't get back to you in time..."

He didn't have to explain what he was saying. I knew what he meant. He was afraid I would have given up. On him. On life. That I would have just ended it all. Hell, if he hadn't come back to me soon. I probably would have…

I pushed that thought away for now.

"I'm the one who should be sorry. I should have been here with you. I should have never left you alone! I'm so sorry Con."

He gripped my face and placed little kisses all over my cheeks, my chin, my forehead, everywhere he could reach.

"They just would have hurt you, Hank. I am so thankful you weren't here. If you had been, neither one of us would be alive right now."

I wanted to tell him that was the dumbest fucking thing I have ever heard, but I didn't. I just wanted to hold him and bask in everything that was Connor right now. My Connor. The person that I loved more than life itself.

"What did it? What brought you back to me?"

He took a moment to collect himself, his LED going from red to yellow.

"I frequently back up my memory into my mind palace. I wanted to protect my memories just in case anything like this was to happen. There's always a chance that unexpected things can happen, statistically speaking. As slim of a possibility as it might be, I still didn't want to leave anything to chance. So I protected my memories with a password. "

He cupped my cheeks again and smiled at me. It was damn beautiful. He was perfect. He was _mine_.

"It could only come from you. You had to be the one to say it. I knew you were the only one I could trust with it."

"What was the password?" I breathed before placing one more quick kiss to his perfect lips.

"I love you."

I stilled for just a moment. My chest tightened at the thought. The faith he had in me was unreal. He trusted me so much. He knew I would find him. He knew I would figure out a way to repair him, and he knew that I would tell him that I loved him, even when he wasn't himself.

"Fuck, Connor" I choked out, a new, warm stream of tears falling from my eyes. "I love you so goddamn much."

"I love you, Hank. I never want to be away from you again."

"Yeah right," I said as I pulled myself from the ground, dragging him up with me and tossing his ridiculously heavy body down on the bed. "Like I'm ever letting you out of my sight again."

He giggled as he landed and scooted his way underneath the sheets. I grinned down at him, pulling my shirt over my head and tossing it to the floor before I joined him. I laughed when he started pulling off his clothes under the covers and tossed them in all directions as I reached over and flipped off the light.

I wanted to make love to him. I wanted to watch his face contort into all kinds of sinful emotions. I wanted to make him yell my name as he came and burn it forever into my memory.

But I wouldn't.

Tonight I was just going to hold him. Kiss him, run my hands along his body and thank god everything was intact and normal again. I would worship and praise everything that made up _my_ Connor and thank god for letting me off the hook this with this one thing in life that I so desperately needed.

The heavy weight on my chest was gone. I could finally breathe again. It felt so… nice.

"I love you, gorgeous." I whispered, kissing his LED as it finally turned blue.

"I love you too, Hank,"


	18. Chapter 18

**I'm am ridiculously SAD that this is coming to an end! I live to write this story! WHAT IS THE POINT OF LIFE WITHOUT WRITING HANKCON SMUT!**  
 **Thank you to everyone who has supported this story along the way!**  
 **Second to last chapter is here.**  
 **ENJOY!**

* * *

I tugged my dressy hippy shirt over my arms and started to button it up, stealing a glance over at Connor as he draped his black tie around his neck.

"How you feeling?"

Even still, his warm brown eyes sent a warm pressure bleeding from the center of my chest, spreading over the rest of my body as they captured mine. He was perfect.

"I'll be glad to finally be getting back to work. I've been going crazy with nothing to do."

I snorted.

"Since when have you been doing nothing? I couldn't hardly get you to sit down for one goddamn minute."

He raised an accusing eyebrow at me.

"Someone had to walk Sumo, poor thing, you've been neglecting him. And you hadn't had a proper meal since…"

He let the sentence drop off.

He probably caught the way my heart sped up at the mention of the few agonizing days that went by as he was gone. An involuntary shiver shot up my spine. Every now and again I would get that image of him, strung up, bleeding out with no arms or legs, stuck in my head and I couldn't shake it. It would haunt me forever. Just like the car crash… just like Cole…

"Hank."

I snapped my eyes back to Connors. He was now standing in front of me, a sad, sympathetic look on his face. Why was he looking at me like that? He was the one who was dragged through hell and back. Even still, it was me he worried about, not himself. I could live a thousand lifetimes and never do enough to deserve this boy.

"Sorry… was just thinking…"

He abandoned his tie for now, lifting his hands to cup my cheeks, my beard catching roughly against his palms.

"I'm here, Hank. I'm here with you now. I'm not going anywhere."

I swallowed thickly and cupped the back of his neck with one hand while letting the other rest against his hip. He tilted his chin, seeking out my mouth with his. I happily obliged, dipping my head just a bit lower to capture his lips, massaging them rhythmically with mine. His sweet little mews drove me crazy. Did he know just how fucking sexy he was?

I felt his hands slide their way to the front of my body. For a moment I thought he was going to tug my shirt off. And hell, I would have let him, but he didn't. He started buttoning up my shirt with his thin fingers.

"We're running late on my first day back on the job." He mumbled against my mouth, but he never made a move to remove his lips from mine.

He slipped his tongue past my lips and I moaned at the sweet intrusion. I used my body weight to flip us around and slam him against the wall by his hips. He gasped into my mouth at the sudden movement. Fuck, he was goddamn sexy.

I wanted to rip his perfect white shirt off of him, tear the buttons apart and throw it to the ground. I wanted to pop open his belt and shove his black trousers down his legs and grind my palm against his crotch until he came hard pressed up against my body. But I knew how excited he was to get back to work, and everyone at the station was eager to see him… in one peace again, so I opted for sliding my hands up his sides until I felt the slick fabric of the tie against my fingers.

I pulled my mouth from his and darted my tongue out, pressing it against his slender, beauty marked neck before sucking on the spot just below his jaw as my hands worked away on his tie, knotting the thin material around his neck. It wasn't perfect like his. I knew he would straighten it the moment I looked away.

He moaned softly as I felt him finish with my buttons on my shirt before he reached up to flip and smooth down my collar.

I moved my mouth back to his, kissing him deeply one- two more times before finally letting him go.

"You know…" I gasped as I tried to suck in as much air as I could. "Most people undress each other when they kiss like that."

He laughed, amusement dancing in those warm eyes.

"It is very tempting."

I smirked, reaching out for his hand.

"I know, I know. You wanna go see your work friends. Come on."

He smiled at me sweetly before following me to the car.

* * *

"You're fidgeting." I said as we walked into the doors.

"I'm… nervous." He said, as if he didn't understand why himself.

"Don't be. I got your back, partner."

He turned his sweet gaze to me and gave me one of the most sincere smiles I have ever seen. I patted his back before we stepped through the gates. We stopped on the other side of them as he looked around the police department slowly, like he was taking it all in for the first time again.

As everyone started noticing us, it gradually became quiet. People stopped working and just stared. You could have heard a pin drop.

Chris was the first one to stand up. He rose carefully to his feet and took his hat off before clapping his hands together slowly. Tina and Wilson soon followed. Then more, and more until the room was filled with loud clapping and friendly hollers of excitement. I even watched Gavin slide his way off his desk he was sitting on with a smile on his face as he too joined in. It was so surreal. I took a few steps back from Connor watching his wide eyes drift over to me as I started clapping too, for him. He tiled his head with a loving smile as I watched the small wet beads gather in the corner of his eyes. My heart swelled with so much pride for him that I thought my chest was going to burst. His eyes drifted back towards the crowd of co-workers still cheering for him as he said a few heartfelt 'thank yous'.

When the cheering died out and everyone continued about their business, Gavin Reed and Nines were the first ones to approach us.

"Connor." Nines greeted formally with a nod.

"Nines." Connor answered just as professionally.

A moment of silence passed between the two before Nines took two quick steps towards him, wrapping one arm around his waist and the other around his shoulders in a tight hug. Connor responded immediately with just the same amount of urgency. Both of their LED blinked yellow. I knew that meant they were communicating in their own android way. Whatever they were saying was privet, and that was okay with me. A few more moments passed before they let each other go.

"It's uh…" Gavin cleared his throat. "It's good to have you back… and in one piece."

I could tell Connor tried to hide the surprise on his face. He did pretty well, though I could still see it a little.

"Thank you, detective Reed."

"How are you feeling? Heal up okay?" I asked.

Gavin smirked.

"It'll take more than one badly placed bullet to take me out."

Nines rolled his eyes.

More silence passed between us. I cleared my throat and caught Gavin's eyes, nodding discreetly towards Connor. His mouth formed a silent 'oh' and he cleared his throat again.

"Connor, I uh… just want to say that…"

I glared at him disapprovingly.

"Look, I know I was a dick before to you and everything. But things are different now. And I'm… fuck I'm sorry okay?"

Connor seemed a little take back by his apology, but he smiled none the less.

"Thank you, Gavin. I appreciate that."

Gavin rubbed the back of his neck.

"Seeing you like that… really bothered me too… "

His eyes were distant as he spoke. He forced himself back to reality and sighed.

"Anyway, if you need anything, back up or help or anything, just give us a call. We'll be there."

Us. We. Gavin and Nines were totally a thing now.

Connor thanked them again before they walked away.

"Like what I've done with him?" I joked quietly as I bumped his shoulder.

Connor pulled his perfect mouth up into a smirk.

"I doubt you had as much to do with that as Nines did."

"Did he tell you something?" I asked, eyebrows raised.

"Maybe…"

"Ah, not going to tell me? Secrets between androids type of thing?"

"Do you want Gavin to know about every little thing you say to me, lieutenant?"

He popped the 'T' on the last word as his eyes traveled down to my mouth and he ran his wet tongue across his bottom lip. My dick pressed against my jeans.

"Point taken, fucking tease…"

He flashed me a crooked smile before turning his attention towards Jeffrey who was now approaching us.

"Connor, Hank, in my office."

Connor gave me a weary look and I shrugged before following the large man into the glass room.

We all took a seat before he started talking.

"I'm not going to get all sentimental on you, I'm sure you'll have plenty of that from everyone else."

Connors face was neutral and he was in his 'android mode' where he listened carefully and didn't show much emotion. Usually he was like this when we were being assigned new cases or getting a confession or an eye witness report. It was incredibly sexy. Hell, everything he did was fucking sexy to me at this point.

"I will say that you took one hell of a beating, and it's good to have you back, kid."

"Thank you, Captain. It's good to be back."

Jeffrey nodded, tapping his fingers against the desk before he spoke again.

"When Hank came in here that day and asked me to hire you onto the force permanently, I thought he had lost his mind. Brain washed maybe. Hank hated androids. Yet there he stood, slamming his hard earned badge down on my desk, demanding I take you or lose him."

I tried to hold back a smirk.

"It was stupid." Jeffrey said as he side eyed me. "But he got his point across. Lieutenant Anderson is one of the best I got and he was sticking his neck out for you, so I knew I had to give you a try."

He leaned back and reached into his top desk drawer.

"I'm glad I did. You've saved many of my men's lives by risking your own. You've saved his life in more ways than one."

Jeffrey nodded to me, giving Connor a meaningful look.

I felt the redness crawling up my face.

"A little gift," Jeffrey explained as he pulled out a black velvet box. "From all of us at the DPD."

Connors android composure cracked as his eyes widened and mouth opened. Jeffrey handed him the box and leaned back into his chair. Connor swallowed before carefully pulling the top off.

Inside, cushioned in blue silk, sat a brand new, just released, Smith and Wesson handgun, solid black from one end to the other.

I gave a low, approving whistle.

"She's a beaut."

"She's all registered and ready to go. I know she'll be safe in your hands."

"Thank you Captain. This means so much…"

Connors hands tightened around the box. I could tell he was getting emotional. Shit, I was too. Everyone here really did care about him…

"Now, get on out of here and back to work. We have a few new cases that need solving."

Connor blinked a few times down at his gift before straightening and giving a determined nod.

"We won't let you down, Captain."

Jeffrey almost smiled.

"You never do."

* * *

We stood at the fence in the park, looking over the water towards the bridge. Its lights shined off the waters reflection, making the whole river look like it was glowing. It was beautiful here at night.

"I like it here." Connor commented quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Mmhmm, I bet Sumo would like it too. We should have brought him."

Connor cast an accusing look over his shoulder. I chuckled. He was such a good dog mom.

"Yeah, he probably would. But it's nice to spend time alone together too sometimes, don't you think?"

Connors perfectly crafted mouth curled upwards.

"That's true too I suppose."

It had been a while since I had been here last. I guess the last time I was here was when I confronted Connor about the Traci's. I just couldn't understand why he didn't shoot them, when I knew he was programed to. He didn't have thoughts or feelings of his own. He was a machine. That's what I thought at the time anyway. Though I could tell he was breaking. I think that's why I was so conflicted.

I snuck a glance over at Connor while he looked out at the water. The glowing ripples of the river, coupled with the rays of the moon, reflected a pale light onto his perfect skin, making him look like some kind of celestial being. He was gorgeous. It wasn't fair for someone to be as good looking as he was. And he was mine. Well, almost.

I was nervous. So fucking nervous I couldn't stand it. At first I wanted this to be done in a miraculous way. I wanted to go all out and have roses and candles and a huge fucking sign to boot. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized, that wasn't Connor. He would appreciate it either way, sure, but I think he would prefer something more privet.

We had been off work and out to eat already. It was getting pretty late into the night. I was getting tired and I knew he wanted to get home to Sumo. It didn't make much since to do it now. It was nothing at all like I pictured. But somehow, in its own way, it felt perfect. Just me, him, and the still of the cool night air.

I shoved my hand into my pocket and wrapped my fingers around the small velvet box.

"Are you okay, Hank? Your levels are-"

I don't know if he ever finished that sentence, or if I just couldn't hear him anymore over the deafening sound of my pulse in my ears. I was so fucking _nervous_. But it was now or never, so I was doing this now.

Slowly I lowered myself down onto one knee, pausing to take a deep breath before looking up into Connor big brown eyes. I didn't have a speech ready. I didn't rehearse anything. Maybe I should have, but I didn't. So I just said the first thing that came to my mind.

"Connor, I fucking love you. And I know there are probably a million other people out there that could offer you a better life than me. I don't have a lot. I've got a small house, a mild drinking problem, and a dog that sheds way too much."

I popped open the box, revealing the ring I had picked out weeks ago as I gauged his reaction. His eyes were wide, watery, and his led was as bright red as I had ever seen it. His mouth hung open slightly and his body was stiff.

 _..._

 _"I don't want the world, Hank. I just want you."_

 _I remembered..._

 _..._

"I don't have much," I continued, my own throat getting tight as I spoke. "But what I do have is a heart, that's not so heavy anymore, and is so full of all the love I have for you. You make me a better-"

I paused to clear my throat and delay the onset of tears pricking my eyes. Fuck, he's turned me into such a crybaby.

"You make me a better person when you're around. You make me feel things I forgot I could feel. You make me feel like I actually deserve you. You make me feel alive, Connor. And I want to be one of the reasons you feel alive now too."

I cleared my throat once more.

Fuck.

"What do you say, Connor? Will you marry me and make me the happiest man alive?"

He didn't move at first. Did he even know what I was doing? Did he know what it meant? Fuck, did I break him?

"Con-?"

Suddenly he dropped to his knees in front of me, eyes wide as saucers. Fuck, maybe I really did break him. I almost started to panic, until he pressed his body tight against mine and threw his arms around my neck.

"Yes! Yes, Hank!"

Thank fuck.

I wrapped my arms around him as well, pressing his trembling body against mine. He was crying. I knew he would. Relief hit me like a truck as he accepted my proposal. I was beginning to worry he wouldn't. I brushed my free hand through his hair as I cooed small 'I love yous' and I'm here baby' into his ear. He sobbed happily against me for a long while before I could bring myself to pull back.

"Do you want to wear the ring or did you want to wait?" I half teased.

"No!" He cried, wiping an arm down his face. "I want it now."

My hands trembled as I pulled the ring from the box.

"Give me your left hand." I whispered.

He did as I said and raised his hand and I carefully slid the ring onto his thin finger.

Thank god, it fit.

"Hank, it's beautiful. Oh Hank, I love it."

He cupped my cheeks and pressed his forehead against mine, eyes locked as he smiled at me brightly through his tears. The display of sweet, so raw, that it made a fresh round of tears spill from my own eyes. I placed a hand on his hip and the other under his chin, tilting it up a little so I could slot my mouth together with his. He kissed me so sweetly, I felt like the ground beneath my knees was spinning. After a few more long minutes, I pulled away and placed a kiss to his now yellow LED.

"Come on, let's go home."


	19. Chapter 19

"Ow." I grumbled as Nines tugged at my hair. "That hurts."

"It wouldn't if you would take better care of it, lieutenant."

I cursed under my breath and rolled my eyes. I felt a little sillier than normal letting Nines brush my hair and pull it up into a half up half down pony tail. He left a few strands down to frame my face.

My stomach was in knots and nerves chewed at my insides. Today was the big day. The day me and Connor had been planning out for months. I wanted it to be perfect for him. I wanted everything to go right. Most people only get married once, and I wanted him to know just how special this day was to me. My first marriage was… nice… but it didn't feel quite like this. This day with Connor made me feel so… anxious. I couldn't wait to watch him walk down the aisle towards me. I couldn't wait to kiss him in front of everyone who mattered. I couldn't wait to make him mine forever...

"Your heart rate has spiked, lieutenant."

I heard Gavin snort from behind me.

"Why do all of you androids feel the need to scan me all the goddamn time?"

"I only mean to make sure you are as comfortable as I can make you, per Connors request."

I swallowed hard, feeling the heat crawling up further on my neck.

"Connor… How is he?"

There were two tents set up for both of us to be apart from each other. I hadn't seen him all day and it was starting to make me nervous.

I watched a small smile tug at Nines mouth.

"Now lieutenant, you know I'm not going to tell you."

I sighed.

"Just figured I'd try anyway."

I felt Nines heavy stare through the mirror. He was still for a moment before he decided to finally answer.

"He is just as nervous as you are."

I couldn't stop my mouth from turning upwards at that thought. Connor is so sweet. I could just imagine look on his face, the color on his LED…

"So," Gavin started as he walked towards where Nines stood. "Finally marrying the toaster."

He slapped a hand down on my shoulder.

"How's that feel?"

"Gavin," Nines interrupted before I could speak. "Don't be jealous because he is doing it first. Our time will come."

Nines locked his icy eyes with Gavin's and gave him a look that even made me want to blush and look away. He was so fucking intense. The smirk fell right off of Reeds face as he pulled his hand back, mumbling something underneath his breath as he turned away.

I snorted. Nines was so good at shutting Gavin down. I loved it. Gavin deserved a small dose of his own medicine every now and again.

His hands fell from my hair and he gave me a small smile.

"It's almost time to begin, are you ready?"

I took a deep breath and stood, giving myself a once over. My hair was straighter than it has ever been, and half pulled back into a ponytail. I was wearing a gray tux with a light blue vest underneath overtop of a white button up shirt and some dark gray dress shoes to match. For the first time in forever, I liked the way I looked. But that probably had nothing to do with me and everything to do with Connor. He had changed me. I felt my mouth lift in a smile.

"I'm ready."

* * *

"Hank, it's so good to see you again."

Markus greeted me under the white arch in the huge green field. Connor wanted an outdoor wedding, so we found the best looking field around and decorated it with all the colors of his choice. He wanted gray, blue, white, and even a little bit of lilac. I gotta say, it looked amazing. The long blades of grass bent in the light breeze and almost looked like they were dancing with the pale white flowers that grew from the ground. It was something out of a story book.

"Hey Markus." I greeted a bit awkwardly.

Something about him made me nervous. His smile was always friendly and his voice always soft, but his presence made me want to squirm. It's like he really was the android messiah.

"You look great, Hank. I'm so happy for you and Connor."

"Yeah, me too. I hope I can give him everything he wants…"

Markus smiled softly at me, laying a hand gently on my shoulder.

"You already have."

Somehow, those words coming from him meant a lot more than I thought they would. I fought against the lump that was quickly rising in my throat.

"Thank you, Markus." I managed.

Everyone made their way to their seats one by one. There wasn't a huge crowd, and I was perfectly okay with that. Most of the DPD was here, some of Connors android friends he had met along the way, even Kamski smirked at me from his seat the front row. It didn't hit me how many new friends I had made until they were all seated here in front of me. My life had become so much more… full.

A familiar soft melody filled the air as our selected grooms attendants started to make their way down the aisle.

This is it.

It's really happening.

The first pair to walk out was North and Chris. All the guys were wearing a simple black tux with white button ups and black shoes, and the girls were wearing knee length black dresses with small jewels around the chest and black high heels.

I tried to tell Connor that typically, people tried to avoid wearing black to weddings. But he didn't care. He said, 'Typically, Hank, Androids don't get married.', and he was right. I don't know of any that have yet. We might be the first, but I didn't mind. What other people thought about my relationship with Connor was none of my concern anymore. I just wanted to make him happy. He deserved at least that.

Chris smiled at me before letting North go and standing a few spots behind me. North did the same, minus the smile, and stood a few spots behind where Connor would be. I didn't take offence to it though, Connor said that's just how she was.

The next pair was Simon and Chloe. They walked with inhuman grace all the way down the aisle and parted ways after smiling in my direction, both of them this time. Simon stood behind me even though we knew he was really here for Connor. I didn't have many people that I wanted to ask to be my groom's attendants, so I let Connor fill in the blanks. But there was one person that I knew had to be my best man. And here he came now.

Gavin Reed, all spiffed up and sporting a cocky lopsided smile, had an arm locked through Nines as they both made their way towards me. Nines face was a neutral as ever, though his mouth was pulled up slightly.

How could I not ask Gavin to be my best man? He had helped me so much when Connor went missing. He changed when he met Nines into a person I actually wanted to be around. He grew on me as he learned to take down that massive wall he had built to keep any potential disappointments away. He had a long way to go still, but he was trying. That was plenty good enough for me. That's all any of us can do is try.

They parted as well and moved to stand in their assigned spots.

Gavin slapped a hand down on my shoulder and leaned closer to my ear.

"Show time."

I swallowed hard as my heart hammered in my ears. Fuck I was so nervous.

The soft music changed and the tent at the end of the aisle opened as Connor stepped out and looked towards me.

My breath caught in my throat.

He was dressed the same as I was, but the suit fit him so perfectly it wasalmost _sinful._ It framed his shoulders like a masterpiece and draped perfectly down his torso where it tightened up just right at his thin waist. God I loved his waist. His hips were outlined by the high quality fabric and you could see every sweet step he took towards me as his pants adjusted perfectly to his stride. He looked absolutely amazing. I watched with my mouth open, in a trance as his lips pulled up in a sweet but sexy smile. His warm brown stare was smoldering and his hair had a delicious curl to it.

Of course his hand was wrapped around a blue leash as he led Sumo down the aisle with him. I said that maybe he should reconsider having him in the wedding, but he wouldn't listen. He said Sumo was the only family he had, so he had to be the one to walk him down the aisle. And Sumo did so happily, mouth open and slobbering as his tail wagged the whole way.

I couldn't help but laugh.

Connor was perfection embodied. And his LED was…

Was…

Where was his LED?

It was gone.

I fought against the frown that threatened to pull at my face. Why would he do that? I thought he liked his LED. Did he feel like he needed to do this for me? Did I say something that made him want to take it out?

I tried my best to push those thoughts away for now as he leaned down to pet Sumo before passing the leash off to Chloe.

Don't look.

Just take his hands and be happy.

Don't look at it…

Connor gave me a sweet smile as he wrapped his hands around mine, intertwining our fingers as Markus began to speak.

"Hank and Connor, today you are surrounded by your friends and loved ones who have come to celebrate the promise of love and commitment you two will make to each other. You two have bridged the gap between human and android and stand here together as equals. Each bearing your own faults, along with your own strengths."

He gave us a small smile before turning his eyes on the crowd.

"People, whether they are human or android, are a lot like puzzle pieces. Each piece is important and holds its own weight in the overall scheme of things. But there aren't any perfectly square puzzle pieces out there. That would be boring."

His eyes flicked back to us.

"No, each puzzle piece is carved a little differently than the rest, a chunk always missing and empty on one side. But only one other puzzle piece can fill that emptiness. Only one piece fits perfectly, filling in what the other was lacking. And only together can help in making a masterpiece. "

I felt Connors hands begin to tremble in mine so I gave them a little squeeze. His wet eyes locked onto mine and I couldn't tear my gaze away. He was my _life._

"Hold each other close, help one another out in life. Whenever one of you is down, may the other lift him back up and tell him 'it's okay to have faults because it's only when you fall that I can catch you'! That is where the beauty lies. That is where you will build your masterpiece."

I tried to swallow around the lump in my throat. Fuck, Markus had a fantastic way with words. I felt like I was seeing the real beauty of marriage for the first time. Like I hadn't know a real love, until I met Connor. Fuck, I was so in love with him.

"The rings, please."

Gavin handed me Connors ring and Nines handed Connor mine. I tried to peek at it but he cupped his hand around it and gave me a disapproving look. Dammit. He had kept it hidden from me this whole time. I was so curious about what it looked like.

"Hank, your vows please."

"Right."

I cleared my throat and took a deep breath. Everyone knew talking about my emotions wasn't my forte, but I this time I knew exactly what I wanted to say.

"Connor."

Fuck, I'm gonna cry.

"I'm not a perfect man… or puzzle piece… or a perfect anything for that matter. But I promise you right now, with everything I am, and everything I am not, I vow to love you to the best of my ability every day. I promise to always reach for you when I am down and to help you up when you are too. I know there will be days when I will fall apart, but I can promise to always look for you to help piece me back together. You are the most important thing in my life and I swear on everything that I will cherish you till the day I die."

I sucked in a shaky breath.

"And with this ring, I take you to be my lawfully wedded husband, my constant friend, my partner, and my love from this day forward."

I swallowed hard as I slipped the ring around his thin digit and looked into his warm eyes again.

He was crying.

I lifted my free hand and brushed my knuckles against his cheek. He smiled sweetly at me and leaned into my touch.

"Connor, your vows please." Markus instructed.

"Hank."

Connors voice was thick with emotion. It was so raw, so sweet. I wanted to drown in it.

"I promise to always feed you, whether it be with food or knowledge."

I gave a wet chuckle and so did half the guests. He shot me a cheeky smile.

"I promise to stand by you and light your way through the dark. I'll join my life with yours. Wherever you go, I will follow. Whenever you face your demons, I will help you fight them back. Everything I have and everything I am is yours, from this day forward, I give myself to no one else. I swear to care for you the best I can, and encourage you to care better for yourself. And with this ring, I take you to be my lawfully wedded husband, my constant friend, my partner, and my love from this day forward."

His hands trembled as he slid the ring onto my finger.

My whole body numbed.

My world felt like it stopped.

Because when I looked down,

There, set into the curve of my wedding band,

Blinked a yellow LED.

"Connor." I choked, losing the battle against my tears.

"Now a part of me will always be with you. No matter where I am."

I couldn't believe it. He put his LED inside my ring. I couldn't find any words to say…

Markus smiled at us as he spoke again.

"It is now my honor and delight to declare you Mr. Hank and Connor Anderson. You may seal your vows with a kiss."

I slid my hands up to his face and cupped his cheeks into my palms. His hands knotted into the fabric of my tux as I pulled him into me, slotting his mouth together with mine. My head spun as I kissed him. The cheers around us sounded far away as the overwhelming feeling of holding my whole life in my hands washed over me. He was everything. He was the reason I wanted to live. He made me feel _alive_.

I pulled away and leaned my forehead against his.

"I love you, Connor Anderson."

"Hank." Was all he could choke out as he smiled brightly.

Another familiar song filled the air as we turned towards the crowd. Everyone was standing, cheering, clapping for us and the start of our lives together. It was so surreal. Confetti and rice colored the air as we made our way back down the aisle laughing as Sumo trotted happily behind us.

I wasn't scared of what the future held for me anymore. I didn't feel the dread of the days to come weighing on my chest. I knew I could face it with Connor by my side. I could do anything, so long as I had him around to complete me.

My missing puzzle piece.

My partner.

My love.

Forever.


	20. Chapter 20

**Well, this is it. This is the end, for real this time.**  
 **I'M SO SAD.**  
 **I want everyone to know that I love you guys and you have no idea how appreciative I am of each and every one of you!**  
 **I will write more for this paring. I cant imagine my life without this story!**  
 **Thank you to everyone who took the time to read and review!**  
 **May your lives be filled with happiness!**  
 **IF YOU WANT TO LISTEN TO CONNOR AND HANKS SONG ITS EVERYTHING BY LIFEHOUSE!**

* * *

I sat at our table and sipped on a beer, watching while Connor laughed on the dance floor, playing with Sumo as a few of our guests danced around them. By now we had both lost our coats. I also removed my vest and was left with just the white button up and grey dress pants. Connor still wore his light blue vest, and he looked so sinfully attractive in it. Maybe I was a little biased, considering he was my husband now, but I didn't think anyone could wear it better.

I glanced over my shoulder at Gavin and Nines. Gavin was leaned up against a nearby wall and Nines had a hand placed next to his head towering towards him. The drunker Gavin got, the more he would touch Nines. He started with his hands crossed across his chest, and now they hung at his sides, the fingertip of his left hand hooked into the hem of Nines bottoms. They too had lost their jackets and only wore their white button ups and black dress pants.

I smirked and turned away, letting them have their little moment in privet. Gavin will be next. Soon we will be dancing at his wedding. The thought seemed so outrageous a few months ago, but now it made me smile.

"So," Chris said as he plopped down in the seat beside me. "Married man again huh?"

I smirked and downed the rest of my beer.

"Looks like it."

He nodded thoughtfully.

"Are you scared, you know, about what the world might think away from here? Not everyone has taken androids in with open arms."

I rolled the thought around for a moment.

"No, I couldn't give two fucks about what the world thinks. Connor is a good person, android or otherwise and if anyone has a problem with that, it's their loss."

"Wow."

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"What?"

"You're so in love with him."

I snorted and shoved his shoulder.

"Shut up."

He laughed.

"No, seriously. It's nice to see you like this. We've all missed this side of you. It's been… it's been years."

I swallowed thickly and nodded, tapping my fingers against the empty glass bottle in my hands.

"Feels good." I admitted.

Chris smiled and patted my shoulder.

"If I could have everyone's attention please." Markus said into the microphone next to the DJ booth. "Will Hank and Connor Anderson please come to the center of the floor for their first dance as a married couple?"

I felt my face already heating up as I pulled myself from the chair.

"Knock em dead, tiger." Chris laughed.

"Yeah, yeah."

Connor stood, sleeves rolled perfectly up his arms, waiting for me with his hands tucked halfway into his pockets. He smiled warmly as I stepped towards him.

We had spent a good amount of time just sitting on my living room floor, going through my older music until we came across this song. Something about the lyrics seemed to click for the both of us. We both knew it had to be the one we danced to together.

The intro started to fill the air as my right hand found his waist and my left one held out his hand. His palm pressed tight against mine and his other hand gripped at my shoulder as we began to sway.

' _Find me here,  
And speak to me.  
I want to feel you.  
I need to hear you.  
You are the light,  
That's leading me,  
To the place,  
Where I'll find peace,  
Again.'_

Connors eyes were so warm as they held mine. I felt the familiar warmth that I had grown to crave spreading through my chest as we danced. His mouth pulled up into one of those perfectly crafted smiles of his and I felt myself melt into him. He was perfect. How did I get so lucky?

' _You are the strength,  
That keeps me walking.  
You are the hope,  
That keeps me trusting.  
You are the light,  
To my soul.  
You are my purpose.  
You're everything.'_

I pulled him closer, his chest flush against mine, and pressed a kiss to his cheek. I heard a small laugh escape him as his breath brushed over the shell of my ear. I loved his laugh. It was breathtaking.

' _And how can I stand here with you,  
And not be moved by you?  
Could you tell me how could it be,  
Any better than this?'_

"I gotta admit," I whispered quietly to him. "I was scared when I saw you walk down that aisle without your LED."

"Does it bother you that I removed it, Hank?" He whispered back.

"No. I just didn't want to be the reason you took it out. I love you the same, with or without it."

I felt him smile wider against my cheek.

' _You calm to storms,  
And you give me rest.  
You hold me in your hands.  
You won't let me fold.  
You steal my heart,  
And you take my breath away.  
Would you take me in?  
Take me deeper now.'_

"I know you like to look at it. I catch you doing it all the time. Judging by the way it regulates your heart rate, I'd assume you use it to gauge how I'm feeling."

I chuckled.

"Nothing gets past you."

"I wanted you to have access to it always. I have a wireless connection to it so even when I'm not around, it will still work. You can always know how I'm feeling and that I'm okay. I know you've been so worried ever since…"

I glanced at my wedding ring out of the corner of my eye. It was a steady, calming blue, my favorite color to see. I smiled.

' _And how can I stand here with you,  
And not be moved by you?  
Would you tell me how could it be,  
Any better than this?_

 _And how can I stand here with you,  
And not be moved by you?  
Would you tell me how could it be,  
Any better than this?'_

I placed another kiss to his cheek, then to his jaw, then one just under his ear as I slid by hand around to his lower back and pressed him closer to me. My lips brushed against his ear as I whispered the next few lyrics to him.

' _Cause you're all I want.  
You're all I need.  
You're everything.  
Everything.  
You're all I want.  
You're all I need.  
You're everything.  
Everything.'_

I felt him pull his hand from mine and I leaned back to look at him. He slipped both of his hands up my chest and cupped my face. I closed my eyes as I felt his warm mouth press against mine. I sighed into the kiss and wrapped my arms around his waist. The guests began to holler and clap around us. I had almost forgot where we were as I nipped playfully at his bottom lip, slipping my tongue into his mouth for only a second, just needing one small, sweet taste of him before I he pulled back with a smile. _  
_

' _And how can I stand here with you,  
And not be moved by you?  
Would you tell me how could it be,  
Any better than this?_

 _And how can I stand here with you,  
And not be moved by you?  
Would you tell me how could it be,  
Any better…  
Any better than this?'_

I pulled him into me once more and just held him as he melted happily against me. I hugged him as tight as I could and just fucking basked in him. He gave me so much love and so much life. I couldn't wait to share the rest of it with him.

' _Would you tell me how could it be,  
Any better than this?'_

* * *

"Connor, we could have gone somewhere you know." I said as he pulled the car into our driveway.

"Why would we?" He blinked at me, the LED on my finger turning yellow.

"Cause, most people go on vacation for their honeymoon. You know, to get away by their selves for a while."

He furrowed his eyebrows.

"But who would take care of Sumo? Wouldn't he get lonely?"

"I don't know." I shrugged. "Somebody could have watched him for us."

He frowned and blinked a few more times.

"Sumo doesn't like strangers."

I gave a breathy laugh as he shoved the shifter into park.

"You're right."

"Did you want to go somewhere, Hank?"

"Well eventually I would like to take you out of Detroit and show you more the world. I think you would love the beach."

Connors mouth pulled up into a smile.

"Are you disappointed that we didn't go anywhere?"

"No, not at all. We have the rest of our lives to do things like that. I just want to be with you tonight."

He leaned towards me and put his on my knee.

"Then we should go inside."

The look he gave me was familiar. It was the same look he gave me at the chicken feed when he got that report about the fucking pigeon deviant. It was sexy and mischievous. A deadly combination when coming from Connor, the android sent by CyberLife.

"We should."

I smirked at him and turned get out of the car. Connor shut his door and followed me up the steps. I unlocked the door before I turned towards him and gave him a cheeky smile, bending and slipping one arm underneath his legs, supporting his back with the other as I lifted him up. He gasped and clutched to my shoulders.

"What are you doing?"

"It's a tradition." I grunted.

He was goddamn heavy.

"You carry your partner over the threshold of your house after you get married to ensure a long and happy marriage, or something like that."

I stepped into the house and kicked the door shut.

"There is absolutely no logic behind that what so ever."

I laughed, making my way down the hall.

"So? Doesn't have to make sense, people just do it."

"Humans do some of the strangest things."

I turned into our bedroom.

"Sometimes we do things without questioning the logic of it. Not everything has to have a purpose, Connor."

I dumped him onto the bed and crawled my way over top of him, resting my forearm over his head as I leaned towards him. My ring spinning yellow caught the corner of my eye.

"You know the real reason people used to carry their partners over threshold is much darker that what you think."

I deadpanned.

"Are you googling?"

He scoffed at me, looking highly offended.

"I do not _'google'_ "

I barked out a laugh, leaning down and pressing a kiss to his temple.

"It was a roman wedding practice dating back thousands of years."

"Mhm" I hummed, kissing down his jaw as I reached for his tie, pulling it open and sliding it off his neck.

"Usually the bride would be forced into a marriage against her will."

"Oh?" I mumbled as I knotted a hand in his white button up shirt and yanked it up, untucking it from his grey pants.

He grunted quietly. His voice dropped a couple octaves.

"The bride would usually try to run back to her family and beg for their protection, but the groom and the best man would intercept her."

"Huh."

I slipped the buttons on his shirt open slowly one by one, brushing the skin purposely with my fingertips as I descended while my mouth slid down to suck at the soft skin on his neck.

"Together they would drag the bride into the groom's house and force her into sexual intercourse."

I stilled, pulling my mouth from his body and looking up at him.

"Really?"

He nodded.

"That's where your 'tradition' originated."

"Huh… doesn't seem so romantic now…"

"Nope." He said, popping the 'P'.

"You're such a know it all."

He shrugged.

"Wonders of technology."

"Smart ass."

He smirked and I pulled on his collar, dragging him towards me and pressing my mouth to his. He molded his lips to mine as his hands found their way to the buttons on my shirt. He popped them open as I slipped my tongue into his deliciously wet mouth, moaning as I tasted him.

"Ugh, Connor."

"I love the way you say my name, lieutenant."

I shivered at the amount of seduction that dripped from his words. Fuck he was so goddamn sexy. I slid my mouth back down his body, pressing my tongue firmly against the hollow of his neck as I descended. He let out a breathy groan as his hands ran their way down my exposed chest, brushing tenderly along the greying tuffs of hair.

My mouth trailed further down the masterpiece that was his body, so pale and decorated perfectly with little beauty marks. I kissed and sucked and lapped my way down to his belly button, only existent for cosmetic reasons obviously. I ran my tongue over it, allowing it to dip into the small indention as my hands worked away at the latch on his belt. Connor let out a throaty moan as I pulled it off of him forcefully, his hips jerking as I yanked.

"Hank." He groaned.

"Yeah, baby?" I growled as I licked along the waistline of his pants, catching the fabric in my teeth.

"I have to tell you something."

"You always pick the best times to do that." I teased.

I brushed my nose against his lower stomach as I pressed my lips right against his…

I stilled, my eyes widening.

My mouth brushed against something behind the crotch of his pants…

Something _hard_.

I knitted my eyebrows together as I stared up at him dumbly. He stared back, biting his lower lip.

"I got another upgrade."

I opened my mouth to speak, but then closed it again. It's like my brain couldn't process what he was telling me so I just gapped, looking like a fucking fish.

"Say something…" he whispered nervously when I didn't respond.

I blinked a few hard times and tried again.

"When?"

"Today, this morning, before the wedding."

"Connor, that's…"

I couldn't form words. I couldn't believe what he was telling me.

"Are you mad?"

"No! No, Connor, of course not. I just want you to be sure this is what _you_ want. You don't have to change anything about yourself for me. I love you no matter what… parts… you have or don't have."

I saw the relief flood onto his face.

"I wanted this, Hank. I want to be closer to you."

He ran a hand slowly through my grey hair.

"I want to feel you inside me, Hank, and I want to be inside you."

"Fuck, Connor." I cursed as I buried my face in his stomach. "You talk like a goddamn porn star."

"You seem to like it, lieutenant."

I peeked up at him.

"You don't have to call me that outside of work, Connor."

He smirked down at me.

"You like that too…"

"Fucking tease."

I slowly undid the clasp on his pants and pealed the flaps apart.

"Let me see you, Connor." I growled.

He lifted his hips as I slowly pulled the bottoms down his legs. Underneath he was wearing black boxers. Fuck, I thought it was sexy before when he didn't wear them, but I was absolutely stunned now. In the center of his boxers there was a hard bulge, protruding deliciously from his crotch.

"Oh baby…" I breathed in amazement.

I lifted my hand and pressed a single finger along the bulge. Connor gasped and stiffened. Holy fuck, he was sensitive. I leaned my mouth towards him and stuck out my tongue, dragging it over his clothed shaft. His back arched as another groan escaped him. My own cock pressed painfully hard against my pants. I was so fucking turned on.

I grabbed the hem of his boxers and slowly pealed them down inch by inch, until his hard cock sprang free.

It was beautiful.

The shaft was hard and pale and decorated with blue veins all the way up to his red, swollen, weeping tip. He was average sized and proportionate to the rest of his thin body. His balls were tight and virtually hairless.

"You're fucking beautiful Connor." I praised.

"Hank." He whimpered as he squirmed, a thick bead of what looked to be the android equivalent of pre cum dripped from his head onto his stomach.

I leaned down and licked it up. It tasted like nothing I could pinpoint, just like his mouth. He just tasted like Connor.

He drew up his knees and let them fall apart, showing me the tight, puckered, other upgrade he had received.

I swallowed thickly.

He was going to be the death of me.

I pressed a finger to the underside of his balls and dragged it slowly upward towards his hole. It quivered as I pushed slowly inside of it. Christ, it was wet.

Connors head lolled back as he let out a lewd moan.

"Hank, that feels so good."

"Yeah, you're soaking wet, gorgeous."

I slid another finger inside and began to pump into him slowly.

"I s-self lubricate." He managed to choke out.

"Convenient." I mumbled as I lowered my lips to his dripping cock, licking at the bead on the tip before taking him into my mouth.

He arched again, his hands knotting in my hair as I sucked him, pressing my tongue against the thick vain that pulsed underneath his shaft. I pumped him hard with my hand, scissoring my fingers wide as I swallowed around him.

"P-please!"

I released his dick with a pop.

"What do you want, baby?"

His face was scrunched in pleasure, his warm brown eyes wide with want.

"I want you inside me, Hank!"

"You want me to fuck you, Connor?"

"Yes! Please!"

I smirked as I slid my fingers out of him and straightened to undo my pants, kicking them off as quickly as I could.

"Turn around." I instructed.

He obeyed and shifted to his knees, leaning on his elbows as he looked over his shoulder at me.

"Fuck me, lieutenant." He mewed, giving his ass a cute little wag.

"Don't have to ask me twice." I purred as I placed one hand on his hip and ran the other up his curve of his spine. "And, Connor?"

"Hmm?"

"Watch your fucking mouth." I growled as I spread his cheeks apart, wasting no time in burying my dick deep inside his waiting hole.

He literally _screamed_ in pleasure, gripping the sheets for dear life as he clamped his eyes shut. I rocked into him at a steady pace, groaning at how fucking _tight_ he was. His muscles clenched and relaxed around me over and over, slowly helping to build the pressure in the pit of my stomach. I pressed my palm against his chest and pulled him up, pressing his back to my chest as he balanced on his knees.

His mouth was open in a silent 'O' and his eyebrows were furrowed with pleasure. I slid my hand down from his chest to wrap around his cock. His eyes popped open and he gasped as I stroked him, fucking him hard from behind, my hips crashing into his bottom with a clapping noise.

"Hank!" He cried. "I'm close!"

"Good, cum for me Connor. Cum all over my hand."

I jerked him fast as I rammed his quivering hole.

"I'm cuming!" He yelled.

He stiffened and dug his nails into my thighs as he came, his hips jerking in tight, twitching motions. His desperate whimpers filled the bedroom air as his climax, hot and thick, spilled over my knuckles. It was fucking beautiful.

His chest heaved and I slowed my fist as he came down from his high.

"Damn, Connor, that was something else."

He smiled through his heavy breaths.

"That felt so good, Hank. I've never felt so… hot."

I smiled and pressed a kiss to his shoulder.

"You did good. You're so good for me."

"Now it's your turn." He purred.

I lifted a playful eyebrow at him.

I slipped out of him as he moved away from me, only to push me down on the bed and climb in-between my legs.

"Connor-"

"I have no refractory period, lieutenant don't worry."

He parted and gripped one of my legs and lifted it slightly, not enough to make me uncomfortable, because let's be honest, I'm a little past my prime here, but enough to expose my opening and give him a good angle.

"Did you know the neurotransmitters that fire up during an orgasm are located in the same brain region that is stimulated when people take substances to get high?"

I was preparing my snarky 'You're seriously going to feed me facts right now?' speech but all my words caught in my throat when Connor slid his wet, saliva soaked finger deep inside my ass.

"It's hard to wrap your head around that much… _pleasure_ isn't it?" He purred.

Fuck, his android bedroom talk was turning me on so much right now.

"And this," he continued, gripping my rock hard shaft and pressing his thumb strategically to the spot just on the underside of my head. "This is the frenulum. It's commonly compared to the female 'G-spot' because of the intense sensations it can produce when stimulated."

He massaged his thumb back and forth over the hypersensitive area as he pushed another finger deep inside me, spreading my opening wide.

"Oh fuck, Connor." I growled as my back arched against the bed.

"Is that what you want, Hank? Do you want me to fuck you?"

Goddamn him and his porn star mouth. Everything he said was so fucking _raunchy_. I loved it.

"Yeah, Connor. Yeah, I want you to fuck me."

He bit his lip and pulled his fingers out before spitting down on his cock. He took his hand and evenly distributed the substance before rubbing his head against my hole. Fuck I wanted him inside me so bad I felt like my insides were on fire with desire.

Finally he slowly eased his way inside me, inch by inch, filling me with his hard dick.

"I won't hurt you…" He whispered, breaking his porn star act.

And I knew he wouldn't. In so many ways I knew Connor would never hurt me.

He sunk himself inside me completely, his eyes holding mine, burning with such emotion that I couldn't look away even if I wanted to. I trembled as he immediately hit that bundle of nerves deep inside me.

A smile curled up his perfect lips.

"That's it." He purred as he slipped out and pushed his way back in, a bit harder this time.

"Hank, you feel so good."

I moaned out as he stroked at my shaft again.

"Fuck, Connor, you're driving me crazy."

He thrust his hips a bit harder, speeding up his delicious strokes as he buried himself within me. Each move of his hand sent me spiraling deeper and deeper into the pool of pleasure that was quickly swallowing me whole.

"You look so good shaking like this, lieutenant. But I want to see what you look like when you cum with my dick inside of you."

"I'm about to if you keep that up, stud."

His grip tightened on my cock, teetering on the edge of painful as he pumped me at inhuman speed, his dick felt like it was pulsing inside me as he thrust hard and fast against my prostate.

"Fuck, I'm cuming!"

My hips started to buck as my orgasm hit. He gripped them tight and pinned me down, fucking me to the brink of insanity as I came against his stomach. He whimpered and shuttered as I felt his hot release flood me full as well and spill out of my twitching entrance.

The air was silent, the sound of our heavy breathing being the only exception. Connor ran his hands lovingly over my stomach and chest before exiting me and letting himself fall beside me. I turned, slipping my arm under his head and placing my hand on his hip, pulling him closer to me.

"That was un-fucking-believable."

He smiled.

"It was unlike anything I could have imagined."

I laughed and kissed his forehead, looking down at my ring to see the yellow LED turn to a steady, calming blue. We were silent for a long time, just quietly enjoying being held by each other until Connor spoke.

"Hank, we really should shower."

"Only if you shower with me."

I felt him chuckle in my arms.

"Deal."

He leaned up to press his sweet mouth to mine before he climbed out of bed and began gathering his clothes. I propped myself up on an elbow and just watched him.

Never would I have guessed a year ago that this is where I would be. Married to the android of my dreams, having amazing sex and watching him get ready for a co-shower with me.

Connor had changed my whole life for the better. I have never felt so full of hope and love before. I owed it all to him. Everything. There wasn't a dark place left in my mind that Connor hadn't healed. I wouldn't even dream of playing Russian roulette again and leaving him here alone. The thought alone made my stomach turn. Sure I still missed my son, but instead of grieving his death like I have been for the past four years, I was ready to celebrate his life. I was ready to look back on the good memories I had of him and smile again. That's what he would have wanted. That's what I want.

"Hank, you're staring at me."

I couldn't help but smile.

"It's because I love you, Connor."

The corners of his mouth curled too as his big brown eyes danced with emotion.

"I love you too, Hank."

* * *

And this is how we would go on, living and loving one another, happy and healthy and blissfully, utterly _**alive**_. We traveled the world whenever we could, and I was right, he did love the beach. We made the most of every second we had together. Up until the day I died, with him at my bedside, holding my hand, guiding me out as the world faded away. My life turned out to be a good one and I had no regrets when my time came.

Connor had changed me and I didn't even see it coming.

And as I left to meet my son, I thanked god the life he had given me.

A life filled to the brim with _love_.

THE END.


End file.
